The Oldest American Business Corporation in Existence

Extract

There is a good deal of doubt as to which was the earliest business corporation in America. One view is that a whale-fishing company established in New York City in 1675 was the first, but, although a joint-stock company (a kind of partnership), there is no evidence that it was also a corporation. A second view is that the first was The New London Society United for Trade and Commerce, chartered, apparently, in Connecticut in 1732. The life of these and other colonial concerns was short. Claims might be made for the priority of other colonial companies but our main interest is in existing companies. And this interest does not lie in the age of the concern itself but in the priority of its incorporation.