# America's Oldest Company **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 14, 2004, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americas-oldest-company/234179 "2004-03-14T03:01:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jackmiller](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9dc877/32.png) [@jackmiller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackmiller)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2004, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americas-oldest-company/234179/1 "2004-03-14T03:01:10Z")
Does anybody know which is the oldest American company? The Hudson Bay Company in Canada claims to be the oldest in North America, and the Zildjian cymbal company claims to be the oldest because it was founded 300-plus years ago in Turkey then moved to the United States. But that doesn’t interest me. Which is the oldest, still-active company founded in the United States? Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Rico](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rico/32/3582_2.png) [@Rico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rico)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2004, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americas-oldest-company/234179/2 "2004-03-14T03:40:04Z")
Looks like the oldest operating businesses in the United States are [family farms](http://www.familybusinessmagazine.com/oldestcos.html). The oldest non-farm business, according to this list, that was founded in the colonies that became the United States, is the [Bachman Funeral Home](http://www.bachmanfuneral.com/), founded in 1769. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2004, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americas-oldest-company/234179/3 "2004-03-14T03:52:34Z")
You overlooked the very first item on that list: [the Zildjian Cymbal Company](http://www.zildjian.com/adaa/adaa_2003_legacy.asp), 1623. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2004, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americas-oldest-company/234179/4 "2004-03-14T03:54:36Z")
Damn! Forgot the OP didn’t count that. ---
**Author:** ![Rico](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rico/32/3582_2.png) [@Rico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rico)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2004, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americas-oldest-company/234179/5 "2004-03-14T03:54:57Z")
Jeff: Read the OP - the Zildjian Cymbal Co. was founded three hundred years before moving to the colonies - founded in Turkey. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2004, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americas-oldest-company/234179/6 "2004-03-14T04:05:38Z")
To make up for my gaffe, [this list](http://www.cftech.com/BrainBank/CORPORATEADMINISTRATION/OldestCos.html) and several others say J.E. Rhoades & Sons, 1702. ---
**Author:** ![jackmiller](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9dc877/32.png) [@jackmiller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackmiller)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2004, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americas-oldest-company/234179/7 "2004-03-14T04:51:58Z")
Got it. Thanks, guys. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2004, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americas-oldest-company/234179/8 "2004-03-14T05:35:14Z")
This is just so much weasel word stuff. If some guy was making coffins in the 1700’s, then his descendants open a funeral home in the 1900’s, does that mean that the 2004 business is in the running for “oldest American company”, whatever that phrase means? It all seems to depend on how you phrase your original question. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2004, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americas-oldest-company/234179/9 "2004-03-14T05:40:54Z")
The oldest large company in the US is DuPont which started out as a gun powder manufacturing company in 1802. Haj ---
**Author:** ![daniel801](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@daniel801](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/daniel801)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2004, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americas-oldest-company/234179/10 "2004-03-14T05:48:52Z")
It depends on when you count America as beginning. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2004, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americas-oldest-company/234179/11 "2004-03-14T09:10:56Z")
The oldest company _period_ is a fishery in the UK, I think. Read that in an Usborne book when I was a young’en… don’t know if it’s still true. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2004, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americas-oldest-company/234179/12 "2004-03-14T13:43:26Z")
> [@Really Not All That Bright](#): > > The oldest company _period_ is a fishery in the UK, I think. Read that in an Usborne book when I was a young’en… don’t know if it’s still true. I believe it’s actually a japanese building company, so old there are tales about its origins. There are also an international association of old family businesses, which, IIRC, accept applicants when the business is still owned by the founder’s family. It seems to me several of them date back to the renaissance era. The most well-known member is the weapon company Beretta, the oldest, a japanese inn (still IIRC).