HERSHEY, PENNSYLVANIA

Milton Hershey was born on September 13, 1857 to Henry and Veronica "Fanny" Snavely Hershey. Born the son of a Christian father, his family were members of Pennsylvania's Mennonite community. His ancestors were Swiss and German and had settled in Pennsylvania in the early 1700s. He grew up speaking Pennsylvania Dutch.

In April 1862, Hershey's sister Sarena Hershey was born in Derry Township, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, and died in 1867 at age 4 from what they believe to be scarlet fever.

Like many rural young people of the time, Milton was expected to help out on the family farm, and he learned early on of the value of hard work and perseverance. Henry Hershey rarely stayed anywhere very long, and was prone to leaving his wife and child for long periods. Because of this, Hershey had a very limited education with no schooling after 4th grade.

In 1871, Milton Hershey left school for good and was apprenticed to a local printer, Sam Ernst, who published a German-English newspaper. He did not like that kind of work and he thought it was very boring. One day at work there, he accidentally dropped his hat in one of the machines. Because his boss was hot-tempered, he was fired shortly after. He was worried to see how his parents would react. His father asked Ernst to take him back, and he did decide to give him a second chance, but Mattie Snavely, his aunt, and his mother had a different idea. They wanted him to learn the trade of candy making instead. So, his mother arranged for the 14-year-old Hershey to be apprenticed to a confectioner named Joseph Royer in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Over the next four years, Hershey learned the craft of creating confections. In 1876, he moved to Philadelphia to start his first confectionery business.

Milton then traveled to Denver and, finding work at a local confectioners, learned how to make caramels using fresh milk. He then went to New Orleans and Chicago looking for opportunities, before settling in New York City in 1883 and training at Huyler's. He started his second business which, while initially successful, lasted only three years, closing in 1886.

Hershey returned to Lancaster in 1886. He borrowed money from the bank to start the Lancaster Caramel Company, which quickly became a success. He used the caramel recipe he had obtained during his previous travels to make candies. Also, from his previous travels, he learned that caramels sell better in bulk, so that is what he did. This company soon became a success when a man from England visited Lancaster. He loved Hershey's candies once he tasted them and placed a big order to be delivered to Britain. Hershey was able to pay off his debt and had money left over to buy more ingredients and equipment.

By the early 1890s Lancaster Caramel Company had grown, employing over 1,300 workers in two factories. After a travel to Chicago for the World's Columbian Exposition, he sparked an interest in chocolate. After a long time of deciding, he took a risk and sold Lancaster Caramel Company for one million dollars to start the famous Hershey Chocolate Company.

Using the proceeds from the 1900 sale of the Lancaster Caramel Company, Hershey initially acquired farm land roughly 30 miles northwest of Lancaster, near his birthplace of Derry Township. There, he could obtain the large supplies of fresh milk needed to perfect and produce fine milk chocolate. Excited by the potential of milk chocolate, which at that time was a luxury product, Hershey was determined to develop a formula for milk chocolate and market and sell it to the American public. Through trial and error, he created his own formula for milk chocolate. The first Hershey bar was produced in 1900. Hershey's Kisses were developed in 1907, and the Hershey's Bar with almonds was introduced in 1908.

On March 2, 1903, he began construction on what was to become the world's largest chocolate manufacturing company. The facility, completed in 1905, was designed to manufacture chocolate using the latest mass production techniques. Hershey's milk chocolate quickly became the first nationally marketed product of its kind.

The factory was in the center of a dairy farmland, but with Hershey's support, houses, businesses, churches and a transportation infrastructure developed around the plant. Because the land was surrounded by dairy farms, Hershey was able to use fresh milk to mass-produce quality milk chocolate. Hershey continued to experiment and perfect the process of making milk chocolate using the techniques he had first learned for adding milk to make caramels when he had moved to Drexel Hill. Hershey also believed that you should treat your employees well.  He would have houses built and would sell them to his workers for only the cost of materials and labor.  He never made a profit off the houses.

Since Hershey and his wife could not have children, they decided to help others, establishing the Hershey Industrial School with a Deed of Trust in 1909.  In 1918, Hershey transferred the majority of his assets, including control of the company, to the Milton Hershey School Trust fund, to benefit the Industrial School. The school was originally established for healthy, male orphans.  The school now accommodates 2000 coed students in grades Pre-K thru 12. It is a boarding school for economically underprivileged students and is completely free to them and their families.

Hershey Chocolate supplied the U.S. armed forces with chocolate bars during World War II. These bars were called Ration D Bars and Tropical Chocolate Bars. The Ration D Bar had very specific requirements from the army: It had to weigh 1 or 2 ounces; it had to resist melting at temperatures higher than 90 degrees, and it had to have an unpleasant-enough flavor to prevent the troops from developing cravings for them. After a year or two, the Army was impressed enough with the durability and success of the Ration D Bar to commission Milton to make the Tropical Chocolate Bar. The only difference between them was that the Tropical Chocolate Bar was made to taste better than the Ration D Bar and still be as durable. Tropical Chocolate Bars were designed not to melt in the tropical weather. It is estimated that between 1940 and 1945, over three billion of the Ration D and Tropical Chocolate Bars were produced and distributed to soldiers throughout the world. In 1939, the Hershey plant was capable of producing 100,000 ration bars a day. By the end of World War II, the entire Hershey plant was producing ration bars at a rate of 24 million a week. For its service throughout World War II, the Hershey Chocolate Company was issued five Army-Navy 'E' Production Awards for exceeding expectations for quality and quantity in the production of the Ration D and Tropical Chocolate Bars. The Hershey factory machine shop even made some parts for tanks and machines during the war.

Now, isn't that interesting facts about Milton Hershey? I thought so too.  We went on a historical trolley ride through the town of Hershey today and learned a lot more than what I just wrote about Mr. Hershey.  Our conductor was very knowledgeable and attended the Hershey School as a child. It was well worth the money and SO informative.

We then went into Hershey World and took the tour of how they made Hershey chocolate kisses and bars in the old factory.  We also walked around the shop and had lunch at Houlihan's.  It was a great day.