The idea for this post came from Joey Aszterbaum, the Hemet Home Loan Guy. Joey works for Patrion Mortgage in Hemet, California. I might add that Joey is a fellow Musician (I knew there was a reason why I liked this guy right off the bat!) and a renowned contributor to Active Rain. Joey suggested that researching this topic might help to clear up a lot of confusion on the part of both real estate professionals and the public.
I'd also like to credit a number of sources in researching this topic, including Realtor.org, the Online Etymology Dictionary and the Minneapolis Area Association of REALTORS® (MAAR). The following is my best effort to reconstruct the history of the term "REALTOR".
The term "Realtor" is credited to Charles N. Chadbourn, a former president of the Minneapolis Real Estate Board. According to some sources, Chadbourn began using the term to refer to real estate professionals as early as 1891. It is unclear when exactly Chadbourn first used the term in writing, but "Realtor" may have been in use by the time the National Association of Real Estate Exchanges was formed in 1908. That Association became the National Association of REALTORS® sixty-six years later, in 1974.
The original meeting of several Midwestern real estate boards which led to the founding of the National Association of Real Estate Exchanges took place in Duluth, Minnesota, in June 1907. Present at that very important meeting were Gerald O'Reilly of St. Louis; Col. Val Surghnor, Chicago; James T. Blake, St. Louis; Col. Nathan William McChesney, Chicago; Ed Porth, Milwaukee; E. E. Rogers, Milwaukee; and Charles N. Chadbourn of Minneapolis.
Original rights to the term "Realtor" belonged to the Minneapolis Board, which later transferred all rights to the term to the National Association in 1916.
The formal ceremony which officially founded the National Association of Real Estate Exchanges took place in Chicago, Illinois on May 12, 1908, just under a year following the Duluth meeting. Initially, there were just 120 founding members, nineteen boards and one statewide Association!
The National Association's first board included representatives from area boards in Baltimore, Maryland; Bellingham, Washington; Chicago, Illinois; Cincinnati, Ohio; Cleveland, Ohio; Detroit, Michigan; Duluth, Minnesota; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Saint Paul, Minnesota; Gary, Indiana; Kansas City, Missouri; Los Angeles, California; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Omaha, Nebraska; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; St. Louis, Missouri; Seattle, Washington; Sioux City, Iowa; and Tacoma, Washington, plus the California State Realty Federation (now known as the California Association of REALTORS®).
The National Association adopted its Code of Ethics in 1913. In 1916, the National Association of Real Estate Exchanges became the National Association of Real Estate Boards.
The Realtor.org website states: "In 1949 and 1950 respectively, the Patent and Trademark Office registrations for the term REALTOR® and the REALTOR® emblem were approved. Dictionary publishers began to list the definition of "REALTOR" as a member of the National Association in 1967."
In 1974, the name "National Association of Real Estate Boards" was officially changed to the National Association of REALTORS®.
Copyright © 2007 by Eric Kodner, All Rights Reserved
It's all for fun. 
Comments (16)Subscribe to CommentsComment