R.J. Reynolds

He arrived in Winston in 1874 with a plan and not much else — sold his share of the family tobacco business in Virginia, found the nearest railroad hub, and started over. By 1875, Reynolds had his operation running. Within two decades, production had climbed from 150,000 pounds in his first year to millions of pounds annually. Winston-Salem alone had 15 other tobacco companies competing for the same ground, and Reynolds outlasted them through business acumen and a willingness to take risks, including adding saccharin to chewing tobacco when the competition wasn't thinking that way.

The move that changed everything came in 1913, when Reynolds invested his company's profits in launching the Camel cigarette — a packaged cigarette at a time when most smokers still rolled their own. Within a year, he had sold 425 million packs. He became the wealthiest man in North Carolina by far, paying $66,000 annually in taxes — double the next-highest taxpayer in the state.

The company and the family reshaped the city in ways that outlasted the man himself. Reynolds donated money to the establishment of what would become Winston-Salem State University. He built schools and houses for workers on his own property, established progressive working conditions, and pushed for public school funding. His wife Katharine continued the work after his death, funding a high school and auditorium. Their daughter donated Reynolda House — the 1,000-acre estate Reynolds moved his family to in 1917 — to serve as an art museum. The Reynolds family's philanthropy eventually brought Wake Forest University to Winston-Salem, donating land and funding the university's relocation from its original home in 1956.

Winston-Salem calls itself the Camel City. That name traces directly back to this man.