Don’t ask me how, but I recently discovered a Japanese company, Takeda Pharmaceutical Research, that has been in business since 1781.
This got me to wondering: what is the oldest continuously operating company in the US?
Is it some bakery in Massachusetts? A farm in upstate New York? There’s gotta be some US company older than Takeda, right?
The bank my brother works for is only a few years younger. And that was just off the top of my head.
Outside edit window: This link may also interest you.
Well, according to that, Shirley Plantation is the oldest business in the US, dating back to 1638. But they haven’t been a working plantation for like a hundred years.
Seems to me that Towle Silversmiths might be the oldest, dating from 1857 and still a division of some holding company.
While the OP specifies the US, here’s a thread we did a year ago about the oldest continuious operating biz in the world. I didn’t even reread it, just supplying the link.
There’s a farm in the little town in Connecticut (Fieldview Farm, Orange CT) where I grew up that’s been operated by the same family continuously since 1639. We used to buy milk from there when I was a kid.
Tuttle Market Garden in Dover, NH, has been family-owned and operated since 1640.
King Arthur Flourhas been selling flour since 1790.
Harvard was founded in 1636 and is the oldest corporation in the U.S. I’m sure there are family companies that are even older.
St. Augustine, Florida dates back to 1565. There may be something there.
I just have to mention Kongo Gumi,the 1400 year old temple builder just went out of business in 2008. I guess they just don’t build as many traditional temples these days. I find that sad.
Oh yeah, and just for a mention, Zildjian is an American company that originated in the Ottoman Empire in 1623, although they are more of a spinoff of the original company.
Zildjian, the cymbal manufacturer, claims to be the oldest continuously operating family-owned business in the United States. This magazine article backs up the claim and lists some other venerable companies, most of which are farms.
The Lake Champlain Transportation Company has been in continuous operation since 1826.
They still exist, although they’re not a family business anymore. They were bought by another company and are thus now a subsidiary, which raises questions of how you’re going to define “company”. The main reason for their financial difficulties was not lack of demand (demand has always been kind of low) but terrible investments made during the economic bubble of the 80s.
Also not in the U.S., but I ate lunch at this restaurant in Seville a few years ago. They claim to be in operation since 1386.
I can only imagine how it must feel to be the idiot who lost the company that was in the family for 14 centuries. If it were me, I’d seriously consider seppuku (or perhaps a less painful form of suicide).
I would commit suicide by snu-snu. And the slow slow poison of living life filthy rich.
If we’re talking *large *companies, the one that has been on the Dow Jones 30 Industrials for the longest time is General Electric.