[2][3] He sold his share of the family business in 1874 and moved south to Winston (now Winston-Salem), North Carolina, to start his own tobacco company.

[3] Reynolds' younger brother, William Neal, was attending Trinity College (now Duke University) and worked part-time for him.

[7] Reynolds worked to develop a flavor he thought would be more appealing than past products, creating the Camel cigarette, so named because it used Turkish tobacco.

[7] Reynolds undercut competitors on the cost of the cigarettes, and within a year, he had sold 425 million packs of Camels.

[7] By the time of his death, Reynolds had become the wealthiest man in North Carolina by far; his $66,000 paid annually in taxes was double the next-highest taxpayer.

She was the daughter of Zachary Taylor Smith (February 19, 1847 – June 13, 1938) and Mary Susan Jackson (January 21, 1855 – April 17, 1926).

[4] She earned a degree in English literature and went to work as a Reynolds secretary, at one point winning $1,000 in a company-sponsored contest.

[9] Katharine Reynolds urged her husband to shorten employees' work hours and provide a lunchroom, schools and nursery services for them.

Reynolds established progressive working conditions in his factory, with shorter hours and higher pay.

He also granted endowments to Guilford College, the Oxford Orphan Asylum, and the Baptist Orphanage, in addition to many other charities and churches in the Winston-Salem community.

[12][13] He started a savings and loan, served on the town board of Winston-Salem, and began a YMCA and an opera house.

A memorial gift that still provides for the school today is a $25,000 endowment set up after the death of Kate Bitting Reynolds, Will's wife, with the yearly dividends to be used solely for the upkeep of grounds, exterior beautification projects and playground equipment.

[15] When Reynolds died, North Carolina's governor Thomas Walter Bickett said: "Therefore, the greatest eulogy that can be offered would be to refer to his life of rugged honesty, his wide usefulness and his kindly dealings with his fellowmen, which he himself deemed his first duty.

[16] The Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation to this day gives away millions annually in the Piedmont Triad region.

Babcock and her husband Charles also donated land and funds to start a country club from the grounds of Reynolda in 1939, allowing members to sign up for $1 a year while she was alive.

[10] Its opening in 1940 marked the first time that the Winston-Salem public had access to swimming pools, tennis courts, and a golf course—previously, one had to be a member of a private club to use these types of facilities.

As a Continuing Education Center of Virginia Tech, it offers a variety of programs and classes for all ages, all open to the public and many for free.

Descendants of Hardin William Reynolds have influenced the economic and cultural growth of the U.S., particularly in the South, through their business successes and philanthropy.

The company began using aluminum foil as a packaging material in 1926, and in 1947 they introduced Reynolds Wrap.