The Complete History of GBREB - Greater Boston Real Estate Board

GBREB HighlightsMarch 22, 1889The Real Estate Exchange and Auction Board is incorporated,received its charter from Oliver Ames, Governor of theCommonwealth.May 29, 1889The first meeting of the organization’s incorporators in held atthe Equitable Building in Boston and is adjourned due to thelack of a quorum.1890The Exchange establishes the Arbitration Committee to settlebusiness disputes. This Committee is still recognized as one ofthe most important services provided to members by the Board.1903At the request of William Lincoln, then president of the BostonChamber of Commerce, the Exchange takes part in high-levelconferences regarding reforms in Boston City Government.May 24, 1914The Boston Sunday Post says the Exchange is “ the mostinfluential real estate organization in the country,” and notes,“As real estate in Boston pays over four-fifths of the city’sincome from taxes, it may be fairly said that the interests of realestate are paramount and that no commercial or other propertyinterests stand in greater need of a strong alliance throughassociation for betterment and defense than the manifold andvaried land interests…Real estate deserves and requires a strongand virile alliance for the general welfare.”January 1915The Exchange joins the National Association of Real EstateBoards, now the National Association of Realtors.1917The Exchange in renamed the Boston Real Estate Exchange.The World War I YearsThe Exchange raises an ambulance fund. Supports Liberty LoanDrives, and is extremely active in efforts to alleviate the effectsof the tremendous coal and oil shortages caused by the war.The Early 1920sThe Exchange is active in manners of the state’s new zoningcode, statewide height limitations of new buildings, tax ratesand tax limitations, street widening, education, and traffic andplanning problems.February 1924After having been in six different locations in 35 years, theexchange moves to Water Street, where it is to remain for morethan 40 years, until moving to 24 School Street.April 1, 1925Charles Lee becomes the organization’s first full time executivesecretary.1932An innovation at the Annual Banquet in the admittance ofwomen for the first time, but they are only allowed to sit in thebalcony and are not invited to eat dinner.1934Due to the effects of the Great Depression, membership figuresof the Exchange sink to an all-time low of 471, from the 1926peak of nearly 700 members. It is not until 1946 that membershiplevels will again reach the 1926 mark.1944The Exchange is re-named the Boston Real Estate Board,and during this year the Board registers a strong protestagainst staggering increases in assessments of commercialand apartment property in Boston, since the incomes fromapartments have been frozen under rent control for two years.Post World War IIOne of the Board’s first efforts after the war is to seek removal ofwar-time restrictions on home building.1945Ray Hofford is named Executive Officer for both the Board and theMassachusetts Association of Realtors (MAR). In these positions,he unified loose federation of rental housing professionals intothe Rental Housing Association, one of the Board’s present fivedivisions., and developed a national reputation as a man ofvision for the industry.1952Joseph Lund becomes the first Boston Realtor to serve aspresident of the National Association of Real Estate Boards. Lundwas the 1948-1949 president of the Boston Board.August 1955The Board’s Multiple Listing Service(MLS) is established by a small group ofmembers.