In the spring of 1889, a small group of businessmen, headed by Frederic H. Viaux, came together because of their mutual interest in a growing real estate market and its impact on the industry and the community. They founded the Real Estate Exchange and Auction Board. At the Board’s first meeting in 1890, presided over by Henry M. Whitney, the man responsible for the first electric trolley car in Boston, the organization already had a membership of more than 100, “including the best know real estate men of the city,” according to a newspaper account of the time.
In less than 25 years, the Board had achieved such prominence that the Boston Post, in a 1914 article, called it “second to none in the United States with regard to the influence of its membership.” In 1917, the name was changed to the Boston Real Estate Exchange, in 1944 to the Boston Real Estate Board, and finally, in 1960 to the Greater Boston Real Estate Board.
The Board has undergone many changes, but the principles on which it was founded almost 150 years ago remain intact. The Board continues to foster and promote high ethical standards in all real estate transactions. It monitors, comments and aggressively advocates on legislative and regulatory measures affecting real estate at the municipal, state and national levels. The Board works to protect private property rights, administer an arbitration process for settling business disputes, and provide outstanding continuing education and events for its membership.