William Ballard Lenoir founded the Lenoir Manufacturing Company in 1817 in Lenoir City, Tennessee. The early business included a gristmill on Town Creek that had been in operation at the time of Lenoir's arrival in 1810 and a sawmill that Lenoir later added to the area. By 1831, the company had expanded to include growing cotton, spinning cotton thread, and weaving cloth. Later additions included agricultural products (including their famous hams) and a flour mill. As railroads proliferated in East Tennessee, the company's market expanded and eventually reached such distant cities as Atlanta, Washington D.C., and New York. When W. B. Lenoir died in 1852, he left the majority of his property to his sons, who continued to operate the family business as William Lenoir & Bros. Union troops destroyed most of the Lenoirs' holdings during the Civil War because the Lenoirs were Confederate sympathizers, but the brothers rebuilt the company after the war ended. When one brother, Israel P. Lenoir, died intestate in 1876, the remaining brothers formed a stock company (incorporated in 1877) to ensure that they did not lose Israel's share to a Chancery Court Sale. The company was finally dissolved in 1890, when the Lenoir brothers sold their estate to the Lenoir City Company for $300.00 per acre.