Type of business: Stone carving
Year founded: 1705
John Stevens put up his shingle in Newport, R.I. in 1705,
seven years after emigrating from England and 71 years before the United States
of America was formed. He sold everything from rum and molasses back then, but
the store's bread and butter was stone carving, specifically gravestones.
In 1927, the Stevens family sold the business to John Howard
Benson, who was enamored by the colonial gravestone designs it used to create.
Nick Benson, a trained calligrapher, stone carver and John
Benson's grandson, runs the business today. The company still engraves
headstones, but it also does the carving on memorials like the FDR Four
Freedoms Park.
"We don't care about the money as much as we care about
the product," he says. "I'm inspired by the legacy I've
received."
Type of business: Funeral Parlor
Year founded: 1769
Johannes Bachman's story is the classic immigrant tale. His
family was persecuted for their beliefs, left Europe for America, opened a
local business and became a pillar of the community. Where Bachman differs is
that the business he started in 1769 still exists today.
Today, the Stasburg, Pa.-based firm is a traditional funeral
home, but like any long-lasting business, it's had to adapt with the times.
It started as a carpentry shop, where Johannes was the
area's go-to builder. He made furniture, cabinets and, most importantly,
coffins.
In 1885, factories started mass-producing furniture, which
forced the business to focus solely on coffins. That took a hit when larger
manufactures made coffins on the cheap. In the 1910s, the family gave up coffin
making altogether and started a funeral home.
The firm has been successful because it's identified the
industry's changing trends, said John Bachman, the current owner. It helps that
Johannes' ancestors are driven by the same thing the founder was motivated by
hundreds of years ago: community.
"There's a certain amount of pride in this job,"
said Bachman. "It's about feeling respected, appreciated and about helping
people around you."
Laird & Company
Type of business: Distillery
Year founded: 1780
It may not be a well-known distillery, but Laird and Company
has been around longer than most big-name brands.
The Scobeyville, N.J., company first recorded sales of its
Apple Jack brandy in 1780, but family lore has it that Alexander Laird cooked
up the concoction for friends and family way back in 1689.
Over the years, the company has beefed up its offerings and
now sells wine, whiskey, bourbon, vodka and other spirits.
It hasn't all been smooth sailing. In 1847, Robert Laird had
to rebuild the distillery after it burned to the ground. In the '20s, prohibition
threatened to put to put them out of business, but a quick-thinking Joseph
Laird started producing non-alcoholic products like applesauce and sweet cider.
The company's current owner, Larrie Laird, also had to save
the family business. In 1993, he spent $11 million to buy it back from outside
investors.
Laird admits he's kept the business, which will make $44
million in revenue this year, out of a sense of family duty.
It seems likely the connection will continue: His children
work there and a grandson is about to come on board.
Bixler's Jewelers
Type of business: Jeweler
Year founded: 1785
When Christian Bixler left the army after the Revolutionary
War, he needed something to do.
So in 1785, he opened Bixler's Jewelers, which Tiffany (TIF)
recognizes as the oldest jewelry store in America. He sold hand-crafted
grandfather clocks and rings, spoons and other items out of silver. The
clock-making ended in 1812, but the jewelry business is still ticking.
The store, originally based in Easton, Pa., and now in
Allentown, had been in the Bixler family for 221 years, but Joyce Welkin,
Bixler's great-great-great granddaughter decided to sell it in 2006.
"It was an emotional thing to do," says Welkin,
who still works at the store.
Welkin chalks up its longevity to perseverance, but also
creativity. For instance, no one wanted to step foot in a jewelry store during
the depression, so Welkin's grandfather turned the back room into a library.
It's also about good customer service. Treat people well and they could become
customers for generations, says Welkin.
"We still have people who come here because their
grandmother said we're the only place to buy jewelry," she says.
Curtis Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle LLP
Type of business: Law firm
Year founded: 1830
Not many companies can say they had a direct hand in
building America's financial sector, but that's just one of this New York law
firm's claims to fame.
The firm, formed in 1830 by Don Graham and his cousin,
codified the country's banking laws. It also drafted the charter for Farmer's
Loan and Trust Company, which later became Citibank, and it helped with
Fidelity Investment's foundational documents.
While no decedents from those early days currently work at
the firm, partner Carl Ruggiero said the history lives on through its company
culture.
Everyone sees themselves as trusted advisors to their
clients, rather than big-shot attorneys, says Ruggiero, similar to how lawyers
thought of themselves centuries ago. The firm isn't trying to make the most
money or become the largest company.
"It's not eat what you kill," says Ruggiero.
There's also a commitment to continue what has come before.
"There are no prima donnas here because the firm
started a long time ago," he says. "The firm doesn't belong to any of
us."
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