Celebrating more than 100 years of excellence!
1906
From the ashes of the Great San Francisco Earthquake, Colbert Coldwell founds a real estate company – Tucker, Lynch & Coldwell – based on the principles of honesty, integrity and service.
San Francisco shakes off dust, talks business and rebuilds.
“Don’t Talk Earthquake. Talk Business.”
- Sign tacked to gutted building following 1906 Disaster
1908
National Association of Real Estate Exchanges, later called National Association of Realtors, is founded to promote “real estate interests”. A Code of Ethics is adopted five years later.
Bureau of Investigation later called The F.B.I. is established to combat cross-state lawlessness.
1913
Colbert Coldwell invites salesman Benjamin Arthur Banker to join his firm. Within a year the exceptionally industrious Banker is invited to become Coldwell’s partner.
The Federal Reserve System is established to control credit and bring greater stability to the nation’s banking structure.
1915
First long-distance telephone service is established between New York City and San Francisco.
Panama Canal is completed, cutting voyage time between California and the East Coast in half.
1920
The recently renamed Coldwell, Cornwall & Banker grows bigger, moves to a three-story building at 128 Sutter Street, San Francisco.
1924
Coldwell, Cornwall & Banker establishes a Southern California office in The Spring Arcade Building, Los Angeles.
Henry Ford’s innovations in automobile assembly bring the price of a Model T down to $290, from an original cost of $850 in 1908.
1927
Charles A. Lindbergh pilots his Spirit of St. Louis on a solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean, landing in Paris, France 33 hours after taking off from New York.
1929
The Stock Market crashes,
sparking the Great Depression.
1932
The Xth Summer Olympiad is held in Los Angeles.
The Federal Housing Administration is established, creating a form of mortgage insurance for homeowners.
1934
Arthur Banker is named a Director of the San Francisco Real Estate Board. The company eyes opening a second office in Los Angeles.
1937
Coldwell, Cornwall & Banker opens new offices in Wilshire and San Mateo, California, bringing the total to 7 offices in Northern and Southern California.
1939
The Golden Gate Bridge opens in San Francisco.
1940
Partner Bruce Cornwall resigns, company name changed to
Coldwell, Banker & Co.
1941
The Coldwell Banker® brand’s agents join the war effort, while offices organize bond sales and blood drives.
1945
World War II ends, and the post-war economic boom begins.
1950
The Coldwell Banker® brand begins to play a major role in the development of large-scale, regional shopping centers.
Korean War begins with North Korean and later Chinese troops opposing United Nations forces.
1952
The Coldwell Banker® brand opens its first office outside of California, as part of the Park Central Shopping Center in Phoenix, Arizona.
1956
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above 500 for the first time.
1961
New Coldwell Banker® offices in Arizona and Southern California are planned, as is a transfer from a Partnership into a Corporation.
The United States begins a slow but steady escalation of troops in Vietnam, a small Southeast Asian nation. The Vietnam war sparks impassioned opposition and social unrest.
1964
The Beatles arrive in New York.
1965
Benjamin Arthur Banker, 80, dies in Oakland, California.
1967
Founder Colbert Coldwell, 84, dies in San Francisco, California, having never ‘retired’ from working at Coldwell Banker®.
1968
After fifty years as a partnership, and five as a privately held corporation, Coldwell Banker® became a publicly-traded company in November, 1968.
Former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, widely admired for her style and grace, marries Aristotle Onassis, a wealthy Greek businessman.
1969
NASA’s Apollo 11 mission lands on the moon.
1972
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above 1,000 for the first time.
1976
Coldwell Banker®, having acquired major East Coast firms as part of a strategic expansion plan, fulfills Arthur Banker’s dream of real estate offices coast to coast.
The United States of America Celebrates 200 Years.
1980
Desiring to project a “stronger and bolder corporate image”, a new Coldwell Banker® logo is developed.
The United States Men’s Hockey Team, not thought to be a serious contender, upsets the Soviet Union and Finland to win the Gold Medal at the Lake Placid Winter Olympics.
1981
The Coldwell Banker® brand becomes part of Sears, Roebuck & Co., along with Dean Witter and Allstate Insurance, to establish the Sears Financial Network.
A former actor, head of the Screen Actor’s Guild and Governor of California, Ronald Reagan begins his new job as the 40th President of the United States.
1984
52 years after hosting the Xth Olympiad, Los Angeles puts on the Games of the XXXIIIth Olympiad.
1987
The Coldwell Banker® brand offices are the first to offer comprehensive service guarantees to sellers. The companion buyer’s guarantee is introduced in 1992.
Christopher Reeve stars in the last of four Superman movies – Superman IV: The Quest for Peace
1990
First Persian Gulf War erupts after Iraq invades neighboring Kuwait, and ends with a U.S.-led coalition victory.
1992
The Coldwell Banker® brand offices are the first to advocate and practice Seller Disclosure well before it was a legal requirement in some states. The organization’s leadership in this consumer-focused issue changed the practice of real estate in many markets.
After 3 decades of laughs, comedian Johnny Carson ends his thirty year run as the host of The Tonight Show.
1993
California investment company The Fremont Group acquires Coldwell Banker® from Sears, Roebuck & Co. for $230 million.
1995
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above 5,000 for the first time.
1996
HFS Inc., later Cendant, acquires Coldwell Banker®. Months later, the first international Coldwell Banker office opens in Toronto, Canada.
coldwellbanker.com goes live online, becoming the first website of a national real estate brand.
1998
The coldwellbanker.com website – honored by Advertising Age magazine as “The Best National Real Estate Website” – launches one of the first, proactive online property search tools with the Personal Retriever® service.
Senator John Glenn, Jr. the first American to orbit the earth, decides to take another ride. In his 77th year, he boards the Space Shuttle Discovery for a 9-day flight, becoming the oldest person to fly in outer space.
1999
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above 10,000 for the first time.
2000
The Coldwell Banker® system is the first national real estate organization to offer online listing proposals to home sellers through Personal Retriever® Seller Services.
The new millennium (which many say didn’t come until 2001) is heralded with parties, celebrations, and a global sigh of relief as ‘Y2K’ fears of mass computer meltdown vanish.
2001
2002
Coldwell Banker Real Estate Corporation is the only national residential real estate organization selected by the National Concierge Association (NCA), to receive prestigious membership affiliation for its Coldwell Banker Concierge® programs.
Salt Lake City hosts the XIXth Winter Olympic Games
2003
The second Persian Gulf War is launched by the U.S. led forces.
2006
The Coldwell Banker® brand – the nation’s premier real estate network – celebrates its first 100 years by reaffirming the founding principles of honesty, integrity and service, and by promoting the construction of 100 new homes for Habitat for Humanity® by the end of the year.
alt="Overlay_2006">A century ago, while others saw ruin, Colbert Coldwell saw opportunity and started a company determined to succeed by treating customers fairly, ethically and professionally.
As strong a foundation for the first 100 years as it will be for the next.
2007
Apple Inc CEO, Steve Jobs announces the iPhone.
In 2007 Coldwell Banker became the first national real estate company to offer its listings on a mobile GPS device and the first national real estate brand to configure its website for use by mobile users.
2008
Barack Obama becomes the first African-American to be elected President of the United States
2009
Coldwell Banker launched its YouTube channel, Coldwell Banker On Location, the first branded YouTube channel to use dynamic IP lookup to search for videos, which automatically serves up local results.
2010
Coldwell Banker launched the brand’s Blue Matter consumer blog.
2011
Space Shuttle Discovery makes its final landing after 39 flights.
2012
Coldwell Banker Real Estate launched Coldwell Banker Heroes, a new charitable tracking program that recognizes the full scope of service from those within the Coldwell Banker system that assist those in need.
Queen Elizabeth II marks her 60th anniversary of becoming British monarch, becoming only the second to do so.
2014
The new Coldwell Banker® Digital Platform launches. It’s about real relationships, real data and real connections. It brings back transparency, storytelling and engagement. It’s real estate re-imagined.
Steve Jobs image courtesy of: Stefan Holm / Shutterstock.com
Barack Obama image courtesy of: Everett Collection / Shutterstock.com
Queen Elizabeth II image courtesy of: Shaun Jeffers / Shutterstock.com