Recreation – Hershey Community Archives

In Milton Hershey’s Memory: Cocoa Avenue Plaza

Just prior to his death, Milton Hershey set aside 18.25 acres to create Memorial Field, a community park with a playground and sports fields in the heart of residential Hershey. Plans for Memorial Field were extensive and not all could be developed at first. Several years later, Sam Hinkle, president of the Hershey Chocolate Corporation, […]

Highmeadow Campground: Responding to Trends in Leisure Travel

Car camping became popular during the years following World War II. Campgrounds across the United States began to offer sites with a place to park your car, along with easy access to water and rest facilities. Following this trend, Hershey made plans in 1962 to open a community camping and picnic facility in the north-west […]

Summer Fun: Hershey Park Swimming Pools

Hershey Park’s first concrete swimming pool was added in 1911. Completed in the fall, the pool served as an ice skating rink that winter and opened for its first swimming season in 1912. The pool was a popular destination and attracted 1000s of visitors both as users and spectators. A few years later the pool […]

Heart of the Community: Hershey’s Community Building

Originally planned for 1916 and finally constructed during Hershey’s Great Building Campaign of the 1930s, the goal of the building was to provide entertainment and recreation, as well as to fulfill educational and civic functions for the entire town. World War I and subsequent financial challenges for Hershey Chocolate Company delayed its construction. Finally in […]