Looking Back | Looking Back Archive
War emergency helped build Reynolds Metals

by Paul Levengood
for Virginia Business
May 2006

One of the most important Virginia companies of the 20th century had its roots outside the Old Dominion. What would later become Reynolds Metals Co. was the brainchild of Richard S. Reynolds Sr., who worked for the family tobacco business, R. J. Reynolds, in Winston-Salem, N.C.

Inspired by the need for better cigarette packaging, he established the United States Foil Co. in Louisville, Ky., in 1919. After realizing the limitations of the tin and lead used in his company’s products, Reynolds in 1926 added aluminum to the line. Aluminum was lighter, could be rolled into thinner gauges, and its shininess gave it appeal as a packaging product.

Reynolds believed so strongly in the promise of aluminum that in 1928 he formed a new company, Reynolds Metals, which that year opened its first aluminum foil plant and rolling mill in Louisville. The headquarters of the company moved to New York City in 1930 and finally to Richmond in 1938. Reynolds Metals grew throughout the 1930s, producing a wide array of aluminum packaging products, from beer labels to the wrappers that covered the ice cream bars of its subsidiary, Eskimo Pie.

Despite the company’s successes, its founder grew concerned when he toured Europe in 1937. He noted German aluminum capacity dwarfed that of the United States and Great Britain. With war clouds gathering on the horizon, he saw this situation as exceedingly ominous because of the importance of aluminum to aircraft production. In 1940 Reynolds Metals sought and received a $15 million loan from the Reconstruction Finance Corp., a federal agency charged with promoting industrial development and the strategic acquisition of resources vital to national security. This government assistance was provided to spur domestic production of aluminum, which had been dominated by Alcoa Inc. until that point.

With a new infusion of cash, Reynolds Metals became a primary producer of aluminum, integrating every step of the process, from the mining of bauxite to the production of finished goods. This proved an important development when the nation went to war in 1941. Reynolds became a key provider of aluminum and aluminum products to a wide variety of war industries.

As great as demand was for aluminum during the war, after 1945 it only went up, and Reynolds Metals rode the crest of a booming economy. To help maximize its production, Reynolds Metals purchased six plants that had been built during the war from the federal government. Soon the company was turning out aluminum siding to supply the national housing boom. In 1947, it introduced Reynolds Wrap to consumers, revolutionizing the way Americans cooked and stored food. In the 1950s Reynolds Metals also became heavily involved in supplying the automobile industry, which found the lightweight, high-strength properties of aluminum ideal for everything from trim to engine blocks. More prosaic, but just as important, the company introduced the 12-ounce aluminum beverage can in 1963 — and initiated the first national can-recycling program in 1968.

The postwar fortunes of Reynolds Metals turned it into one of Virginia’s largest and most important companies. In 1958 it built a stunning headquarters complex on Broad Street in Henrico County, becoming one of the first large corporations to relocate to the suburbs. Reynolds Metals competed with Alcoa for many years, but in 2000 the larger rival purchased Reynolds Metals, and its name ceased to exist. The company, however, left a legacy of innovation and marketing strategy that made it widely admired and imitated.

Luckily for those interested in the study of Virginia’s business history, the corporate records of Reynolds Metals were transferred to the Virginia Historical Society. It has established the Reynolds Center for Business History to ensure that the stories of Reynolds Metals, and other Virginia businesses are preserved. To learn more, please visit www.vahistorical.org.

Paul Levengood is managing editor of the Virginia Magazine of History and Biography at the Virginia Historical Society in Richmond. He also serves as the program coordinator of the Reynolds Business History Center, opening this summer as part of the VHS 175th anniversary celebrations.