Part 2 in a series of stories celebrating Reidsville’s 150th anniversary

For more than four decades, the City of Reidsville was synonymous with the word “tobacco,” as the country’s number one cigarette maker, American Tobacco Company, called Reidsville home. The company, infamously known for production of Lucky Strike cigarettes, was recognized for paying top wages that attracted workers from Reidsville and surrounding communities. At the height of its popularity in the 1930s, more than 40 billion Lucky Strike cigarettes were sold annually around the world, and American Tobacco paid among the highest wages in the city. In 1938, its hourly wage was about $6, the equivalent of $100 per hour today.

Prior to American Tobacco’s dominance, tobacco was a money crop in Reidsville for years, and when the railway came to Reidsville in 1863, filling the missing gap between Danville and Greensboro, more and more businesses were attracted to the area.

“Reidsville was nothing more than a crossroads before the war, and then with the addition of the railroad, small manufacturing companies for chewing tobacco started to pop up,” said Bob Carter, Rockingham County’s historian.

In 1872, the first tobacco auction sale warehouse was built, and as more and more people flocked to Reidsville, there was enough growth for the town to incorporate in 1873.

The railroad addition also led Francis “Frank” Reid Penn Sr. of Virginia to move his tobacco industry to Reidsville in 1874, where he and his brother, Samuel Penn, established the F.R. Penn Tobacco Company, which manufactured smoking and chewing tobacco.

During and after World War I, it became widely accepted to smoke, and cigarettes became the primary product produced in the factories. The Penn’s Reidsville operation was bought out by American Tobacco Trust in 1911, and Penn’s son, Charles, became vice president of American Tobacco.

Around 1916, American Tobacco opened an 800-man cigarette factory in Reidsville, with the first Lucky Strike being produced somewhere between 1917 and the early 1920s.

Local legend says that Charles is the one who perfected the blend for the famous Luckies brand of cigarettes and convinced the company to move its production plant to Reidsville.

Around 1927, American Tobacco built the manufacturing structure that still stands, overlooking the city with its Lucky Strike smokestack.

“Over the years, they kept adding on,” Carter said. “The factory ‘was’ Reidsville.”

Employing a large portion of the city and surrounding area’s population in the 1920s and 1930s, the factory and company saw tremendous growth, laying the foundation for Reidsville to prosper and become known as “The Lucky City.” Often, entire families worked for the company.

Then, came the antismoking movement of the early 1980s, and as it grew in strength, the tobacco industry found itself under assault, and the number of smokers began to decrease.

In 1994, American Tobacco was purchased by Brown and Williamson, whose flagship plant was in Georgia. In 1995, the company decided to move cigarette production to Macon, and more than 1,000 to 1,500 jobs in Reidsville were displaced.

“Well over 24 percent of the tax base was lost,” said Kelly Almond, Reidsville City Manager from 1988 to 2011.

Many of the employees were offered jobs in Macon or early retirement.

“Some moved and some stayed, and some moved back after the Georgia plant closed or they retired,” Almond said.

Almond, then Mayor Pro Tem Hunter Davis and Bill Apple, president of First National Bank at the time, as well as other City leaders, sought help from a Congressional Delegation, which put pressure on Brown and Williamson to help ease the devastating transition for Reidsville and blow to the economy.

The company underwrote the construction of an industrial park on the southern edge of Reidsville, which is now home to five industries.

“The company helped us build it to have sites to replace the industry we were losing,” Almond said.

In addition, Brown and Williamson gave the city land owned in another industrial park, which was eventually sold, and the company also made financial contributions to the local United Way.

“They did a very responsible exit,” Almond said. “Our economy was based on tobacco, textiles and furniture, and all of those jobs eventually went overseas, leaving us with the task of diversifying and replacing them.”

The City of Reidsville also responded by opening a teen and outreach center, as well as a free medical clinic.

“That all grew out of that dark time,” Almond said. “It was a challenging and scary time, and we had to cut jobs within the city, too.”

About $1.5 million in taxes and water and sewer revenue was also lost with Brown and Williamson’s departure from Reidsville.

“It was a slow process overcoming that, and we had to raise water and sewer rates,” Almond said.

In the early 2000s, the City of Reidsville negotiated an agreement with the City of Greensboro for the purchase of water, creating a much-needed source of income for the city.

“We have a dependable reservoir and negotiated to sell them water, and they expanded our water plant for us,” Almond said. “We began selling them water, and they still buy water from us.”

While American Tobacco Company was one of the most important drivers of the local economy during Reidsville’s formative years, the city’s ever-determined leaders and citizens have worked tirelessly to recreate the place they call home and attract new businesses and residents. The result is a thriving community with a premiere industrial park presence and a revitalized downtown area.

After retiring as City Manager in 2011, Kelly Almond and his family never thought twice about moving anywhere else.

“It’s rewarding to see good things continue to happen and see all the new jobs in the industrial park and the improvements to downtown,” he said. “We absolutely love it here.”