• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Alert

Library Operations Update: Express Library Service More Info

arlingtonva.us
MENUMENU
  • Join Now
  • My Account
    • Login
    • About My Account
    • My eAccounts
    • Join Now
  • Holds Pickup
  • Locations
  • News
  • Help
    • FAQs
    • Contact Us
    • By Appointment
  • Contact Us

Arlington Public Library

MENUMENU
  • Events
    • Featured Events
    • Events Calendar
  • Search
      • Browse New
      • Browse All
  • eCollection
    • eAudiobooks
    • eBooks
    • Digital Magazines
    • Learning Tools
    • Research Tools
  • Research
    • Research Portal
    • Research Tools A-Z
    • Local History
  • Services
    • Accessibility Services
    • Borrowing
    • Holds Pickup
    • Get Reading Recs
    • Nonprofits
    • Resume & Job Search
    • Technology
    • Wi-Fi
    • Unavailable Services
    • Accounts and Borrowing
    • Computer Services
    • Meeting Rooms
    • Accessibility Services During COVID-19
    • Make an Appointment
    • More Services
  • Explore
    • Catalog
      • Catalog Search
      • Catalog Browse
      • Digital Archives
      • Borrowing Collections
      • Book Lists
    • Kids & Teens
      • For Babies and Preschoolers
      • For Elementary Schoolers
      • Middle and High Schoolers
    • Local History
      • Research Room
      • Community Archives
      • Digital Projects
    • Support the Library
      • Friends of the Library
      • Giving Opportunities
      • Donating Materials
    • Popular
      • Lynda.com
      • Consumer Reports
      • Overdrive
      • RBdigital
    • EXPLORE MORE
  • Join Now
  • My Account
    • Login
    • My eAccounts
    • About My Account
    • Get a Free Library Card
  • Locations
  • News
  • Help
  • Contact Us

Women’s Work: Ruby Lee Minar

Have you shopped in Lee Heights? Visited Lyon Park?

Then you have been to neighborhoods created by real estate developer Ruby Lee Minar.

Composite of images from the Ruby Lee Minar exhibit

You can read a short history of Ruby Lee Minar's influential career in Arlington real estate development in our online exhibit, Women's Work.  The exhibit includes original documents, which are housed in the Center for Local History's Community Archive.

In the 1920s, entrepreneur Ruby Lee Minar built a real estate empire in and around Arlington. It was so expansive that the American Business Review described her as the “most successful woman in realty development in the country.”

By May 1921, Minar had become the exclusive sales agent for the Lyon Park subdivision owned by Lyon & Fitch. Minar also purchased a 400-acre tract of land between the Washington Golf and Country Club and the Potomac River, which was developed into a subdivision named Lee Heights.

Ruby Lee Minor was a prominent advocate for women’s rights in her roles as first president of the Washington, D.C. Soroptimist Club, a worldwide civic organization for business and professional women. She became the first woman admitted to the Virginia Real Estate Association and went on to be the only woman on the Alexandria-Arlington-Fairfax Real Estate Board.

Graphic image of the Memorial Bridge
Memorial Bridge illustration, from Ruby Lee Minar's brochure advertising Lee Heights

November 7, 2018 by Web Editor

Filed Under: App, Center for Local History, News

Primary Sidebar


The Center for Local History: Where Stories Live


Notes on the Arlington Symphony


John Robinson receiving an award.

John Robinson: Taking a Stand


Oral History: The Arlington Food Assistance Center


Rediscover Lutrelle Fleming Parker, Sr.


This Week in 19th Amendment History: The 19th Amendment is Officially Adopted


Read more blog posts from the Center for Local History


Center for Local History


Central Library, First Floor
1015 North Quincy Street
Arlington VA 22201
703-228-5990

Footer

Explore

  • Catalog
  • eCollection
  • Research
  • Services
  • Kids and Teens
  • Local History
  • Events
  • more

About Us

  • Mission & Vision
  • Policies
  • Library Administration
  • Job Opportunities
  • For Partners
  • News Room

Support Your Library

  • Friends of the Library
  • Giving Opportunities
  • Donating Materials
  • Volunteer Opportunities

Our Mission

We champion the power of stories, information and ideas.

We create space for culture and connection.

We embrace inclusion and diverse points of view.

Download the Library App

Arlington County | Terms & Conditions | <!-- Accessibility | --> Site Map
· Copyright © 2021 Arlington County Government ·