"My" Old Companies

In preparing my presentation for the IBM Impact/Forbes Business Forum, I've been looking for examples of 100-year-old companies and started with the companies I know best: those I have worked for. Can't believe I didn't realize until now that all the organizations I have worked for in my adult life are over 100 years old. Some of these companies you have heard about: General Electric (1878) and Herman Miller, Inc. (1905), but the small local bank at which I worked throughout high school (The Bank of Birnamwood, now Banner Banks) is also proud of its history beginning in 1900 and not closing during the 'great depression' or after the head teller was killed in a bank robbery. My current employer, little Hope College in Holland, Michigan traces its history to 1851. Perhaps my interest in old companies is rooted in my own positive personal experience with these outstanding institutions.