Our Beginnings
Built in 1909, the Independence Building was the first steel-frame skyscraper in North Carolina. It was located at The Square and imploded in 1981 to make way for One Independence Center. (Photo courtesy of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Landmarks Commission)
Intertwined with Charlotte
Realtors® have played an important role in the growth of Charlotte and the nature of that growth — thus, in the nature of the city itself.
With the local rise of business and industry in the late 1800s came a growing interest in land, and a close relationship developed between the city’s business and real estate interests. It was within this crucible that the Charlotte Board of Real Estate was born in 1921.
WWI Still Receding
When the Association began, Charlotte was still reeling from World War I but poised for growth. The Charlotte Chamber of Commerce had promoted the city for decades, and during WWI, Charlotte had received a significant economic boost: the construction of Camp Greene, an Army training center just west of uptown. The center brought tens of thousands of Army personnel to Charlotte, many of whom rented or bought homes, and some of whom would settle here.
Comparing building permits from prior to the war to afterward showed an expanding community. From 1911 to 1919, permits were 1,250. In the eight years after WWI, there were 8,259, according to “The Builder: The Croslands and How They Shaped a Region,” a book by Ross Yockey. That’s a nearly six-fold increase.
Textiles and Banking
By the early 1920s, Charlotte was the heart of the region’s textile and banking industries, and more than 100 trains chugged through the city each day to destinations near and far. Charlotte and its suburbs had a population of approximately 62,000 people, and the Chamber of Commerce claimed the city as home to “headquarters of the Carolinas of over 200 corporations of national reputation,” according to The Builder’s account from the 1922 City Directory.
Founding the Association
The Association debuted as the Charlotte Board of Real Estate on May 18, 1921, or May 8, 1921, depending on the account. Original board notes of the time are dated May 18, while later retellings gave the date as 10 days earlier. The Association uses the board date of May 18 as its official start and received its charter from the National Association of Realtors® on July 11, 1921.
Founding Association members read like a Who’s Who of local real estate in the early 1900s. Most were involved in real estate development and some were bankers as well. Among the best-known founders were F.C. Abbott, F.E. Harlan, O.J. Thies, E.C. Griffith, W.S. Alexander, J.B. Alexander and Lee Kinney.
In May 1921, Charlotte real estate leaders met with Realtors® from Winston-Salem and Greensboro about the advantages of a real estate board and decided Charlotte was ready for one as well.
National Charter
On June 8, 1921, the founding members elected F.C. Abbott president of the Charlotte Board of Real Estate and adopted the constitution and bylaws of the National Association of Real Estate Boards (now called the National Association of Realtors®). About a month later, the Charlotte organization received word that the national association had accepted its application.
What is known today as Canopy Realtor® Association was officially chartered by the national association on July 11, 1921.
Streetcars were a popular mode of transit in Charlotte in the 1920s. (Photo courtesy of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Landmarks Commission)
F.C. Abbott, the Association’s first President, in 1921.
These meeting minutes from early June 1921 capture discussions about the organizational structure of the Association.