Hershey Chocolate Company – Hershey Community Archives

Hershey’s Milk Chocolate: Bar Wrappers Over the Years

Search for the Perfect Formula By the early 1890s, Milton Hershey’s Lancaster Caramel Company was an established success. Fortunately, its very success set free Mr. Hershey’s enthusiasm, energy and love of technology to look for a new challenge. He found it at the Columbian Exposition where, in 1893, he had the chance to see a […]

HersheyArchives@30, Part 11: The Gift

On November 15, 1909, Milton and Catherine Hershey signed a deed of trust establishing Hershey Industrial School (now Milton Hershey School). Approximately 486 acres of land were transferred to the School together with all assets contained on the property. All income, revenue, and rents derived from the property were to be used to support and maintain […]

A Key to the Past: Hershey Chocolate Factory Architectural Plans

This post was provided by Archives Assistant, Julia Morrow. The original Hershey Chocolate Factory has dominated the streetscape of Chocolate Avenue in Hershey, PA ever since ground was broken in 1903. The factory is not a single structure, but a complex of buildings that were constructed over several decades. Once Milton S. Hershey started building, he didn’t […]

Hershey’s Syrup: Chocolate Goodness in a Tin

Introduction It wasn’t until 1926 that Hershey Chocolate Company began manufacturing and marketing chocolate syrup. When Hershey’s Syrup was first introduced, it was marketed to commercial users (i.e. bakers, soda fountains, restaurants). Commercial chocolate syrup was marketed in two strengths: single and double. Single strength was promoted for use in soda fountain pumps for making carbonated beverages. Double strength was used […]

Looking for the Truth: Hershey’s Chewing Gum

You know how it goes. An event occurs and time passes. The people involved are no longer around. The details of the event become hazy and faulty memories create new, false details about the how and why of the event. An archives is a wonderful resource for confirming the facts of an event and correcting […]

Hershey Chocolate Company: On the Road

In February 1900, some months before the sale of the Lancaster Caramel Company, Milton Hershey brought the first automobile to Lancaster, and used it to advertise his product. The arrival of the machine was announced in the Lancaster New Era, February 13, 1900: The Hershey Chocolate Company will have the distinction of having introduced the automobile into Lancaster, […]

There’s More Than One Way to a Consumer’s Heart

The Hershey Company did not incorporate media advertising for its products until the company was over 75 years old. Even though Hershey Chocolate Company did not advertise in newspapers, magazines or on the radio, it made use of a variety of advertising techniques. Milton Hershey made use of store windows, counters and posters in trains […]