# Oldest business in your area? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 28, 2020, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-business-in-your-area/850535 "2020-03-28T20:54:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2020, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-business-in-your-area/850535/21 "2020-03-29T07:39:00Z")
That would be prostitution, wouldn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2020, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-business-in-your-area/850535/22 "2020-03-29T16:29:38Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Hudson Bay Company. Founded May 2, 1670. Coming up on its 350th anniversary. Local branch is just down the street from where I work. Used to own all the land in North-western Canada, a/k/a Rupertsland. This. There is a branch of The Bay less than a mile from where I live and one downtown too. Although not a business, McGill will celebrate its 200th anniversary next year. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2020, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-business-in-your-area/850535/23 "2020-03-29T16:40:39Z")
Looks like the oldest US Business might be Tuttle Farm in Dover, NH. It was founded by John Tuttle between\*\* 1635 and 1638.\*\* The oldest Company in the World might be: Kongo Gumi in Osaka, Japan est. 578 AD. Some of the oldest European businesses are of course Breweries. Good table in this article: [The Oldest Companies Still Operating Today - WorldAtlas](https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/the-oldest-companies-still-operating-today.html) ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2020, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-business-in-your-area/850535/24 "2020-03-29T17:19:48Z")
In my immediate area, it’s probably this [place](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/10/nyregion/neirs-tavern-closing.html) which has apparently been a bar since 1829. In NYC, it might be Fraunces Tavern which has apparently been operating since 1762. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2020, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-business-in-your-area/850535/25 "2020-03-29T17:23:20Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > That would be prostitution, wouldn’t it? At that age, I doubt she’s getting much business.😉 ---
**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 29, 2020, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-business-in-your-area/850535/26 "2020-03-29T17:31:44Z")
> [@Darryl\_Lict](#): > > Here in Santa Barbara it’s probably Joe’s Cafe, open since 1928. Strongest drinks in town! I hate to admit it but the locally despised Santa Barbara Newspress had it’s oldest predecessor founded (the weekly Santa Barbara Post) on May 30, 1868. The Newspress itself dates from 1932. Not even close, Bro. The Lobero Theater dates to 1873. It was rebuilt in 1924 so it’s still older than Joe’s if you only count the current structure. There has been live music in the same spot longer than anywhere in California. The Mission probably doesn’t count but it started operations in 1786. ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2020, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-business-in-your-area/850535/27 "2020-03-29T18:03:50Z")
I don’t know if they qualify as “businesses” but a few churches here in California’s 49er Gold Rush country have been operating since circa 1850. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2020, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-business-in-your-area/850535/28 "2020-03-29T18:06:04Z")
> [@RioRico](#): > > I don’t know if they qualify as “businesses” but a few churches here in California’s 49er Gold Rush country have been operating since circa 1850. Churches do not count. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2020, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-business-in-your-area/850535/29 "2020-03-29T18:12:40Z")
I don’t know the oldest _business_ in the area, but [The Horseshoe Café](https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/washington/oldest-restaurant-in-washington/) is the oldest restaurant in the state. > [@](#): > > You’ll find Washington’s oldest continuously operating cafe and cocktail lounge in the heart of Bellingham. The Horseshoe Cafe has been serving the locals since 1886. ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2020, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-business-in-your-area/850535/30 "2020-03-29T18:23:21Z")
Probably The Bingley Arms > **[The Bingley Arms](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bingley_Arms)** > > The Bingley Arms is a public house in Bardsey, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It claims to be both the oldest surviving business and oldest surviving pub in the United Kingdom. It is possibly the fourth oldest surviving business in Europe. > The Bingley Arms was originally named The Priests Inn. The Bingley Arms calls itself the oldest pub in Britain, with a history dating back to between AD 905 and AD 953, and says that it served as a safe house for persecuted Catholic priests, and also as a ... ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2020, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-business-in-your-area/850535/31 "2020-03-29T19:13:41Z")
I looked up Cambridge Univ. press and it’s a little bit older than Oxford press , it was founded in 1534 ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2020, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-business-in-your-area/850535/32 "2020-03-29T19:28:46Z")
The school that my kids go to was established before the birth of Shakespeare. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2020, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-business-in-your-area/850535/33 "2020-03-30T12:54:36Z")
The Lake Champlain Transportation Company has been in business since at least 120. They operate three out of four ferry lines connecting Vermont and upstate New York. By American standards, that’s an old company. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2020, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-business-in-your-area/850535/34 "2020-03-30T13:02:27Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > The Lake Champlain Transportation Company has been in business since at least 120. They operate three out of four ferry lines connecting Vermont and upstate New York. > By American standards, that’s an old company. 120? That’s old by anyone’s standards! 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2020, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-business-in-your-area/850535/35 "2020-03-30T13:02:30Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > The Lake Champlain Transportation Company has been in business since at least 120… > > By American standards, that’s an old company. Considering that they apparently predate America itself by about 1600 years, I’d agree with you. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2020, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-business-in-your-area/850535/36 "2020-03-30T14:05:38Z")
I’d guess the answer to the question depends on whether or not you mean headquartered here, or actually had its genesis here. And in the second case, I’d guess that would be dependent on what “here” means. Headquarters-wise, it’s the AH Belo company, which was originally founded in 1842 in Galveston as the\* Galveston Daily News \*(oldest newspaper in Texas), and through mergers and whatever else, became a large media conglomerate. As for local businesses, it’s a company called “Triple/S Dynamics”, which was originally Sutton & Steele in 1888, and originally developed some sort of industrial equipment called a gravity separator or dry concentrator. There are quite a few that are slightly younger- Rudolph’s Meat Market is one that dates from around 1895-ish and is in the same block, if not building that it’s always been in. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2020, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-business-in-your-area/850535/37 "2020-03-30T14:24:15Z")
> [@N9IWP](#): > > There is a jewelry store near me that has been in business since 1856, and is run by the same family. > > Brian Here in the Chicago area, so far as I can ascertain, it’s also a jeweler. C.D. Peacock Jewelers, since 1837. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2020, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-business-in-your-area/850535/38 "2020-03-30T14:27:58Z")
In my little village in Scotland the two oldest continually-operating businesses only date back to the late 18th-century - both coaching inns to start with, and both still in the same line of business today (well, not _actual_ today, because y’know). There’s a couple of older buildings that used to be mills or whatever, but they’ve been repurposed as housing. Quite a New Town, as these things go. ---
**Author:** ![Old\_Wench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecccb3/32.png) [@Old\_Wench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Old_Wench)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2020, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-business-in-your-area/850535/39 "2020-03-30T14:28:31Z")
If it counts as a “business” because it can be visited as part of a museum, that would probably be the Fort Pitt Blockhouse, built in 1764 as part of Fort Pitt. > **[Fort Pitt Block House](http://www.fortpittblockhouse.com/)** > > Built in 1764, the Fort Pitt Block House is all that remains of Fort Pitt, one of the largest and most elaborate British forts in North America and a key defense during the French and Indian War. ---
**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 30, 2020, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-business-in-your-area/850535/40 "2020-03-30T15:07:12Z")
Out in Leesburg, there’s an engineering firm which predates the Revolutionary War by about 30 years. [cite](https://www.bizjournals.com/washington/subscriber-only/2017/02/24/oldest-family-owned-companies.html) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-business-in-your-area/850535.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-business-in-your-area/850535.md?page=3)