Those oldies but goodies

While I was poking around to learn a bit about King Arthur Flour, which I blogged about the other day, I came across a piece on American companies that have been around for more than 150 years.

Here are my notes on the list:

Funny, but I always thought that Caswell-Massey (1752) was a British company. But, having been founded in pre-Revolutionary Newport, Rhode Island, it almost counts as stiff upper British.

The Hartford Courant (1764) also predates the Revolution. It’s got quite a history:

George Washington placed an ad in the paper, Mark Twain once tried to buy stock in the paper, and Thomas Jefferson sued the publication for libel and lost. The paper was also run by one of the country's first woman publishers, Hannah Watson, in 1777. (Source: Business News Daily.)

There are somethings that are always in my larder. Teddie’s peanut butter, at least a box or two of DeCecco pasta, and a package of Boston’s own Baker's Chocolate (1765). Because you never know when you’re going to need to whip up a batch of brownies. The founders of Baker’s were an odd duo: “a Harvard-educated doctor named James Baker and an Irish immigrant named John Hannon.” Guess that was before the Brahmins figured out No Irish Need Apply.

Ames (1774) makes shovels and other gardening tools. Its shovels were used to help build the transcontinental railroad, by 49ers digging for gold, and to prepare the foundation of the Statue of Liberty. Pretty impressive, no? (Too lazy to check and see whether the gardening tools I use a couple of times of year to tend my parents’ grave are Ames. Maybe that trowel, maybe that claw…)

King Arthur Flour (1790) was founded in Boston. Somewhere along the line it went west. And north. To Vermont. It’s the very flour I use when I bake my Baker’s Chocolate brownies.

Cigna (1792) began life as a marine insurance company. Who knew?

Sitting on the coffee table in front of me as I write this post is a book of sudoku puzzles. Tucked in between puzzle 184 and puzzle 185 is a bright yellow Dixon Ticonderoga (1795) No. 2 pencil.

It’s been many, many years (decades, even) since I’ve had a drink made with “brown liquor”. And my “brown liquor” of choice back in the day would have been Jack Daniels. But Jack has only been around since 1866, while Jim Beam has been in existence since 1795. And unlike a lot of the companies on the oldies but goodies list, it’s still a family-run business.

JP Morgan Chase (1799) began life as The Manhattan Company, a commercial bank founded by none other than Aaron Burr, who’s better known for having killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel. (“The evil that men do lives after them, the good is oft’ interred with their bones.”)

Crane and Co. (1799) makes the very nice type of paper that we used to print our resumes on, back in the day when we printed our resumes. They also provide the paper that our currency is printed on. I’m not 100% positive, but I think if you drive through Western Massachusetts, along the Mohawk Trail, you pass right by a Crane factory.

DuPont (1802) began life as a gunpowder mill. “Today, it holds trademarks on everything from Corian countertops to Teflon and Kevlar.”

I grew up in an Ipana house, but when it comes to toothpaste, I’m mostly a Colgate (1806) girl.

I don’t own any Pfaltzgraff (1811), and I go back and forth on whether I like it, but it’s certainly stood the test of time.

It’s no JP Morgan Chase, but Citigroup (1812) has been around pretty long. They’re my mileage card people…

Louisville Stoneware (1815) is one of the two companies on the list I’ve never heard of. Louisville Slugger, yes. Louisville Stoneware, no. So I googled. A bit Pfaltzgraff-y, but I like some of their designs.

Remington (1816) has been making guns for an awfully long time. But they also used to make typewriters. Something about the pen being mightier than the sword goes here?

I did a quick look through their list, and it looks like HarperCollins (1817) publishes a lot of stuff I just don’t read. But they do publish Hillary Mantel. So when will the final book in her Wolf Hall Trilogy be coming out? Soon, please.

Maybe I just don’t know enough about Kentucky, but the only company on the list other than Louisville Stoneware that I’ve never heard of is Atkins & Pearce (1817). But for more than two hundred years they’ve been producing textiles.

Last year, Brooks Brothers (1818) celebrated its two-hundredth birthday. And they did it without me buying a stitch of Brooks  Brothers clothing. When I worked full time, back in the era of menswear-for-women’s suits, I did buy some things there. My husband got most of his shirts from BB, and I’ve hung on to some of them. So, yep, there’s a Brooks-y shirt or two in my closet.

Macy’s (1843) replaced Boston’s Jordan Marsh. And Chicago’s Marshall Field’s. And a lot of other fondly-remembered local department store. Talk about survival skills. Anyway, thanks for the Macy’s Day Parade.

If I drank beer, which I seldom do, it probably wouldn’t be a PBR. But the Pabst Brewing Company (1844) has been in the suds for 175 years. Must be doing something right.

Altogether, an interesting list of companies. What they hold in common, I will note, is that most of them do pretty boring stuff – and none of them are especially trendy.  Maybe it pays to be boring.