The current 2019 Novel Coronavirus pandemic has been the latest impediment in operating a business of any kind — let alone a small business — and surviving the effects as a result from it required significantly more than mere toughness. Leaders of businesses needed to be simultaneously flexible, determined, and careful. Each company needed the members of its team to pull together; and for the boss to respect the enormous pressure on their employees…
The Oldest Businesses In 89 Cities in the United States
…and everybody needed a bit of luck.
Regardless, survival is not a new challenge for businesses. Approximately 50 percent of new businesses in the United States fail to survive the first five years of being in operation; and only roughly three out of ten companies survive their first decade.
So what is it about those businesses which survived — and then kept on surviving?
For each city in this article, “The Oldest Business in X” was searched — with the oldest result investigated — in order to confirm that the business was still operating. Local authorities — for example, historical societies, chambers of commerce, and city clerks as three of many examples — were consulted for further clarification.
In cases where a business was bought out, said business was included if there was a reasonable degree of continuity. For merged businesses, the date of the oldest business was used. Any data which lacked a reasonable degree of certainty was excluded from the final article.
I have been given express written permission to use the graphics and the verbatim text from this article from OnDeck, which has uncovered the longest-running, continually operating businesses in 89 of the biggest cities in the United States in terms of population and compiled a list of them — and a unique poster was designed for each of these old-timer stalwart companies which continue to thrive today. This information is general in nature only and does not constitute personal advice. While OnDeck has endeavored to ensure the information provided is accurate and current, it cannot guarantee it. Neither OnDeck nor The Gate accept liability for the information which is presented in this article.
Key Findings
- The oldest business in a major U.S. city is The Rowland Co. in Philadelphia, founded in 1732.
- Only four of the 89 cities in our study have a business founded before 1800: Philadelphia, New York City, Boston, and Baltimore.
- Virginia Beach, VA has the youngest ‘oldest business’ in our study: The Terry Peterson Companies (1961).
- Six of the 15 large cities with the oldest businesses are in the northeast area of the U.S.
Philadelphia, New York City, and Boston are the Biggest Cities with America’s Oldest Businesses
First, here’s a run-down of the 15 biggest American cities with the oldest business. There is a strong concentration to the east, with six of the top 15 in the northeast area. The states with the biggest concentration of truly old ‘oldest businesses’ are Ohio (2), Kentucky (2), and New York (2). There are three law firms and three banks in the top 15.
The oldest business in our study is The Rowland Company, founded in Philadelphia in 1732. Founder Benjamin Rowland’s descendants assured the longevity of the Rowland Co. by expanding from gardening equipment and wagon springs into car and truck parts as the market demanded. The company developed new locations in Georgia and Florida before the Rowlands sold it off in the 1950s.
Gulf & Western Industries bought the company in 1962 and divided it up, selling the Philadelphia branch to the Yost family in ‘67. As the business’s 300-year anniversary approaches, The Rowland Company today specializes in industrial power transmission products.
The man with his face on your $10 bill founded The Bank of New York in 1784. Alexander Hamilton would go on to become America’s first Secretary of the Treasury and the subject of a multi-Tony Award-winning musical. But after the War of Independence, Hamilton’s priority was to stimulate the young country’s economic growth.
Hamilton attributed his many successes to hard work rather than ‘genius.’ But the Bank of New York’s longevity is partly due to his astute creation of what was only the third bank in the United States (Hamilton was also a founding shareholder in the first bank, the Bank of North America). Merging with Mellon Financial Corporation in 2007 is said to have saved the company $700m in costs. It also added Mellon’s wealth-management business to the pot.
State Street is Boston’s oldest business and traces its roots to the golden age of maritime in the city – hence the clipper ship in the logo. Massachusetts Governor John Hancock chartered the business as Union Bank in 1792, and it was renamed after Boston’s “Great Street to the Sea” after merging with State Street Deposit & Trust Co in 1925.
However, the company has not been without its troubles in recent years, establishing a hiring freeze while moving the workforce to cheaper countries and settling a $5m lawsuitalleging underpayment of female and African-American executives.
Potteries, Removal Firms, and A Candy Factory Among America’s Oldest Businesses
Here are the oldest businesses in 89 of America’s most populous cities, laid out like treats in a chocolate box. They have thousands of years of history behind them, even if the oldest is just 289 years young.
Gems include an 1815 pottery workshop founded on a street known for its informal goat races. The Louisville Pottery, later Louisville Stoneware, survived the strategic destruction of southern potteries by Confederacy forces intent on disrupting the Union Army’s food provisions – in those days, pottery was as useful as Tupperware.
J.E. Ladd & Son Transfer is a story of continuity: founded 139 years ago as J.E. Ladd Dray Service, today the removal company continues to prosper in Durham, NC, under its fifth generation of Ladds.
Founded in 1919, Chesapeake’s H.E. Williams Candy Co. is one of the youngest ‘oldest businesses’ in our study – but tradition reigns true. The founder’s retirement-age grandchildren continue to produce a select range of sweets with the same taffy pullers, rollers, presses, and slicers used after the Great War.
But it was World War II that nearly put the Williams family out of business: “The war kind of did a number on candy making,” says Lillie Williams, 85. “You couldn’t hardly get sugar and that made it tough to stay in business.” The company survived this and later challenges not by growing, but downsizing – prioritizing survival and craft over world domination. “We’re not in this to make a bunch of money,” they explain. “For us, this is, like, a labor of love.”
Whatever the scale of your business, being a great entrepreneur and leader is not always about being tough, and certainly not about being the biggest – but when you figure out what you want to do, how to do it, and why, the good ideas are bound to follow.
Final Boarding Call
Two business entities instantly came to my mind with regard to longevity: the Atlanta Braves baseball team — which just won the 2021 World Series — is the oldest continuously operating professional sports franchise in the United States, having been founded on Friday, January 20, 1871 as the Boston Red Stockings…
…and Columbia Restaurant, which was founded at its original location in the Ybor City Historic District of Tampa in 1905 and expanded next door in 1919. The restaurant is the oldest in the state of Florida and has been owned by five generations of the same family since its founding. You can read about my dining experience at Columbia Restaurant in this article.
Larger graphics of the next twelve oldest businesses in the United States are presented below after the conclusion of this article — but if you believe that a business in the United States qualified to be listed in this article but was not, please post the name of that business, the year it was founded, and the city in which it is located in the Comments section below.
All photographs ©2015 and ©2017 by Brian Cohen.
