MILTON S. HERSHEY

A Legacy of Chocolate

Milton Snavely Hershey was born of very simple parents in Derry Township, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania on September 13, 1857. The family moved a few miles away to Lancaster County in 1866. His father was a schemer and a dreamer, but never followed through on his ideas to make them a success. His mother was extremely serious and focused. This caused great friction with the family, and they separated early in Milton's life.

Hershey was first a printer's apprentice, but did not do well at it. His mother declared that he should get into a business that people needed - something to eat. Hershey decided to try the candy business, and became an apprentice at a candy company in Lancaster. In 1876, at age 18, he began his first candy business in Philadelphia. The money for this was given by his Aunt Martha Snavely. He soon discovered a fascinating candy called caramel, but the business failed by 1882. After traveling briefly, he ended up in New York City trying another candy company, but it too went bankrupt.

After these failures, he returned home to Lancaster to find that his family did not welcome him. Fortunately, he found financial support from an old friend, and began the Lancaster Caramel Company. After coming close to bankruptcy again, the company finally took off and became a rousing success.

In 1893 he visited the Columbian Exposition in Chicago, where he saw new chocolate-making equipment. He arranged to bring these machines back to Lancaster and began making chocolate. At this time, chocolate was available only to those wealthy enough to afford the expensive treat, and Hershey began making it available at an affordable price. His Lancaster Caramel Company made him a fortune, and it shocked people when he decided to sell it in 1900. .

He wanted, however, to use the million dollars to build a new chocolate-only plant. He chose some swampy land east of Harrisburg where there was lots of good clean water, rail transportation, and good, fresh milk. Hershey intended for this to be a factory, the beginning of today's Hershey Foods Corporation. But he also planned to have a great city built around it, from scratch. He built streetcar lines to nearby towns to bring in workers. He built parks, railroad lines, a department store, a bank, a museum, and donated land for churches. What had seemed like a fool's dream soon became an excellent town.

All of this, of course, was based on the chocolate plant. Hershey had developed ways of improving the production, smoothness, and taste of chocolate. His plain milk chocolate "Hershey Bar" became an immense success. Hershey also decided to start a school for orphan boys, perhaps because he could not have children of his own, and because he had felt a little like an orphan when growing up. (Today, it accepts girls as well as boys, and they needn't be true orphans.) In 1909 he built Hershey Park, an amusement park for the residents of the school and town, and eventually for people from all over.

In 1915, his beloved wife, Catherine, died. When the Great Depression began in 1929, he confounded the world by deciding to ignore it. He started employing more people and building more buildings, such as the magnificent Hotel Hershey. During World War II, he developed a bar that became a daily nutrition ration for the troops, and a great treat for the starving children the troops often came across.

In 1945, Milton Hershey died, leaving behind a legacy of chocolate, caring for employees and children, and genuine, simple goodness.