# 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:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2020, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-business-in-your-area/850535/41 "2020-03-30T17:15:05Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > We have a place called[Laird’s](https://lairdandcompany.com/our-history/), it was founded in 1717 and may be the oldest Distillery in the US. They claim it is the oldest and it appears the claim is legit. For the US, this is a very old establishment. I know by European standards not so much. > > Established the same year and next to it is [The Colts Neck Inn](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colts_Neck_Inn). Started as the Colts Neck Tavern and I believe part of the Tavern is still there. The Distillery burnt around 1849 and moved maybe 2 miles to its current location. When I was younger and living in Reading, Pennsylvania I’d travel to a model railroad club in north Philadelphia using a highway that had been a turnpike back in the day. At one point there are two (now) restaurants across from each other, one the [Something] Tavern, established 1730 and the other [Something else] Inn, established 1760. I’d ponder how both are ‘old’ now but one had been there an entire generation before their ‘upstart’ rival opened its doors. Here in the Phoenix area, before the turn of the 20th century is ‘old.’ Looking it up, the oldest continuously operated business, 1884, is the Phoenix Bakery, now doing business as Holsum after buying the rights to the name in 1929. ---
**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 30, 2020, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-business-in-your-area/850535/42 "2020-03-30T19:34:20Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > When I was younger and living in Reading, Pennsylvania I’d travel to a model railroad club in north Philadelphia using a highway that had been a turnpike back in the day. At one point there are two (now) restaurants across from each other, one the [Something] Tavern, established 1730 and the other [Something else] Inn, established 1760. > > I’d ponder how both are ‘old’ now but one had been there an entire generation before their ‘upstart’ rival opened its doors. > > Here in the Phoenix area, before the turn of the 20th century is ‘old.’ Looking it up, the oldest continuously operated business, 1884, is the Phoenix Bakery, now doing business as Holsum after buying the rights to the name in 1929. It was unexpected, but Laird’s & the Colts Neck Inn must be two of the oldest NJ businesses from what I found. I guess North Jersey had too much turn over before we cared about old stuff to preserve much but this area was still fairly rural when we moved here 50 years ago. (I live about 4 miles from where I grew up). We used the Colt’s Neck in for my Mom’s 75th Birthday and I’ve been there a few other times. I’ve bought Laird’s products, Applejack, crappy Vodka and even crappy Gin once by mistake. ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2020, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-business-in-your-area/850535/43 "2020-03-30T21:32:27Z")
In my area, I think it would be the bakery located in the historic district, which claims to have continuously operated since 1807. Most of what they sell these days isn’t made onsite, though. [https://www.oldsalem.org/visit/c-winkler-bakery-est-1807/](https://www.oldsalem.org/visit/c-winkler-bakery-est-1807/) ---
**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 30, 2020, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-business-in-your-area/850535/44 "2020-03-30T21:33:28Z")
not local to me but the Zildjian cymbal company started in 1623 in Turkey ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2020, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-business-in-your-area/850535/45 "2020-03-30T22:28:33Z")
> [@Suburban\_Plankton](#): > > If you go up the hill a bit to Placerville, the Mountain Democrat (newspaper) has been publishing since 1851, and Placerville Hardware has been in operation on Main street since 1852 (the oldest hardware store west of the Mississippi). I hadn’t thought of newspapers. Even if we limit things to the Sacramento metro area, the Sacramento Bee has been published since 1857, making it a few years older than the railroad. That’s still not as old as the two you mentioned, but I have trouble thinking of Placerville as “my area”. I know, from where I am it’s approximately the same distance from me as Sacramento, but I tend to think of Folsom and Sacramento as part of the same metropolitan area, and I don’t really think of anything east of El Dorado Hills or so as being part of that metro area. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2020, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-business-in-your-area/850535/46 "2020-03-30T23:46:07Z")
Probably [Citrograph Printing](https://www.redlandsdailyfacts.com/2017/07/18/citrograph-printing-co-the-longest-running-business-in-redlands-marks-130-years/). Founded in 1887 and the oldest commercial printer in the state. There were plenty of ranchos in the area previous to that, but none survive to this day. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2020, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-business-in-your-area/850535/47 "2020-03-31T00:13:02Z")
> [@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. Whoa, mind blown. I read about the Hudson Bay Company in school, while studying early North American history and exploration. That’s like hearing the East India Company is still in business. I had no idea the HBC still existed. What do they sell? ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2020, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-business-in-your-area/850535/48 "2020-03-31T00:44:29Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > not local to me but the Zildjian cymbal company started in 1623 in Turkey I came here to post this! It’s very local to me (I passed it every day on my way to work for several years and is \<3 miles as the crow flies from where I sit) ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2020, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-business-in-your-area/850535/49 "2020-03-31T13:59:29Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > I had no idea the HBC still existed. What do they sell? It’s simply [The Bay Company](https://www.thebay.com/) now or even just The Bay (look at the domain) and is a department store. I don’t know how well they might be doing in this age of diminishing brick-and-mortar. Thirty-five years ago **DesertWife** and I went to Vancouver for their world exposition for our honeymoon. I stopped at The Bay specifically to get a Hudson’s Bay blanket. It’s now in the possession of my nephew who’s decided DC is a good place to live. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2020, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-business-in-your-area/850535/50 "2020-03-31T14:42:51Z")
Apparently it’s the [Middleton Tavern](http://middletontavern.com/), a seafood restaurant in Annapolis. Established 1750. Reportedly frequented by President Washington, Ben Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson. ---
**Author:** ![Kovitlac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/2bfe46/32.png) [@Kovitlac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kovitlac)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2020, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-business-in-your-area/850535/51 "2020-03-31T15:37:58Z")
I’m in the Midwest US, so unless there’s some Native American business founded around here, there won’t be anything older than mid 1800s at best. Okay, after looking a few things up, I don’t think there are many business left from THAT early. Jolly Time Popcorn is from 1914. Milwaukee Weiner House, my city’s oldest restaurant, is from 1918. One of the oldest buildings I know of was KD station, which was built in 1919 and torn down in 2010 because, despite being on the National Registry for Historic Buildings, the owner did sweet fuck all to maintain it, and it was condemned when the city took ownership. It pisses me off because I remember going there as a kid (it was converted into a mall-type area after it ceased being a packing plant), and the plus has a TON of local history. For it to be destroyed like it meant nothing felt like a slap in the face. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-business-in-your-area/850535.md?page=2)