R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company was founded in 1875, when 25-year-old Richard Joshua Reynolds started a chewing-tobacco manufacturing operation in the town of
Winston, N.C. (
Winston would later merge with the nearby village of
Salem, creating the city known today as
Winston-Salem).
Although the town of
Winston had only a few hundred residents and no paved roads, Mr. Reynolds saw two potential keys to business success:
Winston was a production center for flue-cured tobacco leaf, and the town sat on a newly built railroad line.
In 1893, George Brown formed a new partnership with his brother-in-law, Robert Williamson, whose father owned two
tobacco factories. One of these factories was located in the same town as Mr. Reynolds' factory,
Winston, N.C., and the other one was in Caswell County, N.C. Initially, the partnership took over the elder Williamson's business. Later, the new company, Brown & Williamson, leased a small facility, hired 30 employees, and began manufacturing in February 1894.
In 1954, J. Reynolds introduced Winston cigarettes - the first filtered cigarette to achieve major success on the tobacco market.
In 1966
Winston cigarette brand reached its popularity, becoming the best-selling cigarette brand in the nation, a position which it held for a period of 10 years. Today, Winston remains one of top-10 cigarette brands in the world. Winston's "Leave the Bull Behind" attitude is backed by its unique, additive-free product point-of-difference - naturally smooth tobacco taste.
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