Leading Real Estate Brokerage Owned by Same Family for Five Generations

Baird & Warner kicked off its 160th year in business on March 28, 2015. Founded in 1855, Baird & Warner has been a family-owned company for five generations under the same name. Today, it is Chicagoland’s largest, locally owned independent residential real estate services company, and the first real estate brokerage in the country.

“The history of Baird & Warner is so closely tied to the history of the Chicagoland area that we really see the people of this great region as our neighbors,” said Steve Baird, president and CEO of Baird & Warner, whose great-great-grandfather founded the company. “We are so fortunate to have hit this milestone, and I am committed now more than ever to maintaining my family’s legacy of remaining fiercely independent and continuing to actively support the hundreds of local communities we serve.”

While Baird & Warner may have existed before March 28, 1855, this is the date of the first transaction — a $5,000 loan to Edward Casey & Brothers for a property located on Washington Street, between Franklin and Market. At that time, the company’s headquarters were located at 90 LaSalle Street, prior to the Great Chicago Fire. Today, Baird & Warner’s home office is located at 120 S. LaSalle Street.

Baird & Warner opened its first residential real estate office in the Uptown neighborhood in 1897, and has continued to establish itself in communities throughout the Chicagoland area. Of the 25 offices the brokerage operates today, the majority have been in business for more than 30 years, and many for even longer. The Evanston sales office opened its doors on June 1, 1923.

For more information about the history of Baird & Warner, visit www.bairdwarner.com/about_us/.