Harry H. Culver

President of the National Association of REALTORS® - 1929

Early apostle of air-mindedness, Harry H. Culver*, as president of the National Association of Real Estate Boards, set for his goal a visit to every real estate board in the Association. Traveling from one coast to another, he conducted all of his business from the trim cabin of his own Stinson monoplane.

Mr. Culver was the founder and builder of Culver City, a 90-acre field of barley in the path of expanding Los Angeles when he undertook its development. He also was founder and builder of Universal City.

Working his way through the University of Nebraska, he left college to enlist in the Spanish-American War, where he served as Sergeant Major, 3rd Cavalry, U.S.V. Later he went to the Philippines to gather information for an American railroad company. He also was a reporter for the Manila Times. Following his stay in the Philippines, Mr. Culver was appointed by William Howard Taft as a special agent for the U. S. Treasury.

Entering the real estate business in 1908, he founded Harry H. Culver and Company. A former president of the Los Angeles Realty Board and of the California Real Estate Association, Mr. Culver served as a director of the Major Highway Committee and of the Traffic Commission of Los Angeles. Former president of the Culver City Commercial and Savings Bank, and a former director of Security-1st National Bank of Los Angeles, he also was chairman of the finance committee of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, where he reorganized the Chamber's finances.

In addition, he served as president of the Arizona Developing Company, dealing in mine development, financing, sale and management. A lieutenant colonel in the U. S. Army, Specialists Reserve, he was president in the Pacific Military Academy and a member of the board of regents of Loyola University, Los Angeles, which in 1930 awarded him an L.L.D degree.

Source: Presidents of the National Association of REALTORS, (Chicago: NAR, 1980).

*Deceased