I enjoyed Wikipedia’s List of Oldest Companies when I bounced onto it randomly, and of course it included a geographic component. Using the list, I examined claims from various parts of the world.
However, let’s consider that these represent claims. References and websites for individual companies often hedge their bets. They used qualifiers such as “reputed to be” or “probably.” I wouldn’t insist that any of these represent the absolute oldest even though they certainly qualified as ancient within their particular realms.
Japan – Oldest in the World
The oldest continuously-operated company in the world today is likely (notice the qualifier) Nisiyama Onsen Keiunkan hotel. It sits beside a hot spring in Hayakawa, Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan (map). Actually the first several companies on the list all fall within Japan. Japanese firms dominate the entire category. Something within Japanese culture nurtures and protects these mostly modest endeavors for a millennium or more. Nisiyama Onsen Keiunkan began during the year 705 according to Guinness World Records.
Oddly, Nisiyama Onsen Keiunkan captured the longevity title only recently. Kongo Gumi, a Japanese temple builder, ruled the roost until 2006. Kongo Gumi remained under the control of a single family since 578 before succumbing to 21st Century economic pressures. Imagine poor Masakazu Kongo, the 40th and final company leader, who failed to pass down what the previous 39 generations of his family preserved.
Speaking of temple building, I noticed a rather startling swastika symbol south of the Nisiyama Onsen Keiunkan hotel. I clicked the tag and dropped the Japanese characters into translation software that identified it as a Buddhist temple. Some basic research confirmed that “on Japanese maps, a swastika (left-facing and horizontal) is used to mark the location of a Buddhist temple.” The map displayed the symbol in proper context. Nonetheless it came as a jolt to me because of my westernized point of reference.
Continental Europe
An example from continental Europe followed next after a parade of Japanese contenders. It listed the Stiftskeller St. Peter in Salzburg, Austria. The restaurant dated back at least to the year 803 (map). It claimed to have been “mentioned for the first time by the scholar Alcuin, a follower of Emperor Charlemagne, thus regarded as the oldest restaurant in Europe.”
It also interested me because Stiftskeller St. Peter fell within the confines of St. Peter’s Archabbey (Stiftskeller translates to Abbey Basement). I learned a new word today too — archabbey — a principal abbey of the Order of Saint Benedict. You can dine within a Benedictine monastery just like so many others have done since the 9th Century.
United Kingdom
Several people from the UK subscribe to Twelve Mile Circle so I wanted to feature something from the British Islands. Many believe the oldest company in the UK is a pub called The Bingley Arms in Bardsey, West Yorkshire (map).
As described by the pub,
“The Bingley Arms, or The Priests Inn as it was called hundreds of years ago, has a known history that dates back as far as 953AD when Samson Ellis brewed in the central part of the building. However, evidence suggests that it might even date back to 905AD and was standing before All Hallows Church, just a few yards away, was built in 950AD.”
Then it talks about the usual ghost stories and stuff which happens on just about every website describing anything ancient.
United States
No company in the so-called “New World” compared favorably to Asian or European business longevity by definition. The Native Americans followed completely different cultural norms. So the notion of family businesses passed down through multiple generations waited until European settlement. Thus, the oldest occurrence didn’t happen until 1613.
At that time a farm, Shirley Plantation arose along the James River in Charles City County Virginia (map). Bear in mind that the first permanent English colony at Jamestown (my visit) didn’t happen until 1607. Shirley Plantation followed the original landing by a mere six years! That made the date quite remarkable within its context.
Farms filled the earliest spots of ancient establishments in the United States. The Seaside Inn in Kennebunkport, Maine, the oldest non-farm, started in 1667. They said that, “9th Generation Family Innkeepers make us America’s oldest running family run business.” Well, except for the farms, I guess.
Canada and Australia
Canada’s oldest business may be the most well-known of the bunch, the Hudson’s Bay company founded in 1670. I decided to show Hudson Bay rather than the company’s headquarters in some generic office tower in Toronto (street view).
Ditto for Australia. I can’t add much visual impact by showing the Brisbane headquarters of the Australian Agricultural Company, founded in 1824. Today they “operate 19 cattle stations, two feedlots and three farms across more than 7.2 million hectares of land across Queensland and the Northern Territory.”
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