Initially, Vicks struggled to sell outside the Greensboro area until Lunsford's son, H. Smith, decided to concentrate only on the renamed VapoRub, the one unique and distinctive product of the 21.

Lunsford Richardson sent out millions of samples of Vicks VapoRub, "inadvertently" inventing the concept of junk mail, say North Carolina state historians.

An editorial in the Greensboro Daily News August 22, 1919 said, "he never passed anyone on the street, young or old, black or white, without a nod and a smile."

During World War II, a Liberty ship was christened SS Lunsford Richardson at "special request of the leading Negro citizens of North Carolina to honor the memory of a white friend."

L. Richardson Memorial Hospital in Greensboro was renamed to honor him after receiving his donations for a modernization program, it originally served the black community.