Tags: Milton S. Hershey (1857-1945)
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 […]
Happy Birthday, Mr. Hershey
Honoring the Founder During most of Milton Hershey’s lifetime, birthday celebrations were a private affair. Sometimes Mr. Hershey hosted a small gathering of friends. Frequently he was traveling in Europe, New York City or Atlantic City, New Jersey during his birthday. That pattern changed when Milton Hershey turned 80 years old. 1937 had been a […]
Archival Treasures: 25 Years of Caring for Hershey’s History
2015 marks the 30th anniversary of the Hershey Community Archives. This exhibit highlights some of the many treasures found in the collections. Just as Hershey’s history is not only about Milton Hershey, the Archives’ collections contain information about the many businesses, organizations, events and individuals that have shaped the community. “Please send me a box […]
Hershey Chocolate Company: 1894-1900
Inspired by chocolate-making machinery he saw at the 1893 World’s Exposition in Chicago, Milton Hershey returned to Lancaster and began experimenting with making chocolate. In 1894, he established the Hershey Chocolate Company and was soon producing over 100 varieties of “sweet chocolate” novelties, bite-size chocolates produced in a variety of shapes and sizes. The term […]
Cultivated for Pleasure: History of Hershey Conservatories
Landscaping and beautification of grounds and property was always a priority for Milton and Catherine Hershey. The community of Hershey was noted for its extensive garden beds, as well as the lush lawns and trees that were planted throughout Hershey. Catherine Hershey took particular responsibility for the gardens surrounding their home, High Point, personally supervising the placement and […]
Accession 200608: Snavely Family Papers
While the Archives is best known for managing the archival records of Milton Hershey’s corporations, we also collect and care for the records of many individuals and local organizations. The finding aids for these collections are available online on the Archives’ website: Hershey Archives. These collections contain a wealth of materials documenting many different aspects of […]
Creating a Legacy: Milton S. Hershey’s Trust Fund for Derry Township Public Schools
Milton Hershey passed away on October 13, 1945 in Hershey Hospital. While he had placed the bulk of his fortune into a trust for the Milton Hershey School in 1918, his continued financial success during the rest of his life created an estate valued at almost $900,000. Mr. Hershey’s will directed that his estate be used to create another […]
HersheyArchives@30, Part 26: Why Did Hershey Sell Its Cuban Assets?
In 1921, Milton Hershey hired Percy Alexander (P.A.) Staples to manage his Cuban operations. For the next 23 years Staples resided in Cuba. As part of his work, he became very knowledgeable about Cuba — not only its sugar industry, but also with its people, culture, economy, and politics. In 1944, Milton Hershey selected Staples […]
HersheyArchives@30, Part 25: Hear Mr. Hershey
In the 1920s, American households had a new choice in home entertainment—the radio. The first commercial radio station was established in 1920 and by 1922 over 600 stations were on the air. Radio programs in a variety of formats and genres were broadcast including radio plays, variety shows, news, and interview programs. One such program […]
HersheyArchives@30, Part 24: Made in Hershey, So It Must Be Good – H.B. Reese Candy Company
While most confectionery companies regard other candy-making businesses as their competitor, Milton Hershey was different. Hershey Chocolate limited its definition of a confectionery competitor to those businesses that produced solid chocolate bars. In fact, Hershey Chocolate sold chocolate to a wide range of companies manufacturing enrobed, or chocolate-coated, candy. Harry Burnett “H.B.”Reese, a one-time employee […]
HersheyArchives@30, Part 23: Hershey Figure Skating Club
The Archives’ collections are a rich resource for understanding not just Milton Hershey and his legacy but also for the growth and development of the Hershey community. The Archives actively collections the records of local businesses and organizations to preserve the history of the community and its residents. Milton Hershey took an active interest in everything that […]
HersheyArchives@30, Part 22: Service Above Self – Hershey Rotary Club
Community organizations are the lifeblood of a town. They provide residents with opportunities to meet and socialize with each other while working to enhance community life. These groups enrich their communities while giving their members a sense of purpose and contributing to the community. The Archives actively collects the records of Hershey’s community businesses and […]
HersheyArchives@30, Part 17: Meet You at the Movies – “Seeing Wonders”
While he did not make use of print or radio media advertising, Milton Hershey was interested in promoting his model town and its amenities and attractions. He believed that the town and the chocolate business were intertwined and promoting one benefited the other. Milton Hershey was an innovator and was inspired by new ideas and […]
HersheyArchives@30, Part 16: Building a Year-round Destination for Entertainment – Hershey Theatre
In 1915, Hershey had his architect, C. Emlen Urban, draw up plans for a new community building. The building was to include a dining room, cafeteria, gymnasium, swimming pool, assembly rooms, a dormitory, a hospital, and two theaters: a small theater for local productions and a large, 2000 seat professional theater. Groundbreaking was scheduled for early […]
HersheyArchives@30, Part 14: Building a Museum for Hershey – The Danner Collection
From 1903 until his death in 1945, Milton Hershey was committed to creating an exemplary model industrial town for his workers and their families. Historically, model industrial towns featured housing and an infrastructure built and maintained by a company and inhabited by the company’s workers. Milton Hershey’s vision for his model town was broader and he created […]
HersheyArchives@30, Part 13: “Hire the Forty Men”
Milton Hershey launched his “Great Building Campaign” to bolster the local economy during the Great Depression. Townspeople found work building the structures that would eventually become some of the major tourist attractions in town, (the Community Building and Hershey Theatre, The Hotel Hershey, Hersheypark Arena and Stadium) and the result was a town that offered facilities and features unheard […]
HersheyArchives@30, Part 12: Designing a Course Fit for a Pro
Hershey’s first golf course opened in 1909. Located along Chocolate Avenue, the 9-hole golf course was built near Milton Hershey’s home, High Point. However, the chocolate factory’s continual eastward development encroached on the golf course, shrinking its size to 5 or 6 holes. Local golfers were forced to go to Harrisburg or Lebanon to play […]
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 […]
HersheyArchives@30, Part 10: “I Never Expected to Marry”
Catherine Sweeney Hershey died on March 25, 1915. Kitty, as she was affectionately known, and Milton Hershey shared a brief 18 years together before her death. A bachelor at the age of 40, Milton met the 26 year-old Kitty while on a sales call in Jamestown, New York. Something about Kitty must have instantly charmed […]
HersheyArchives@30, Part 9: Hershey Zoo – From Angora Goats to Zebus
Within five years of Hershey Park’s official opening additional attractions were introduced in the Park to supplement and enhance the guest experience. An amphitheatre, bandstand, dance hall, photograph gallery, and bowling alley were part of the Park’s expansion; and in 1910, Hershey Zoo. Franz and Louise Zinner, who moved to Lebanon, Pennsylvania from Heisenberg, Germany […]
HersheyArchives@30, Part 8: Destination = Hershey, PA
Throughout its history, Hershey has been a well-known destination for entertainment. After the Hershey Chocolate Factory opened in 1905, the town soon emerged as a popular regional destination. Visitors came to explore the model town and enjoy Hershey Park and its growing number of amenities. In 1914, Hershey’s weekly newspaper, The Hershey Press, announced that a […]
HersheyArchives@30, Part 7: To Build a Town – Step One: Houses
Visitors to Hershey today are often impressed by the community’s well-kept homes with tidy green lawns and sidewalks. Building attractive and comfortable homes for his workers was part of Milton Hershey’s vision for his model industrial town. Most of Hershey’s residential area is located on the south side of Chocolate Avenue. The layout for these […]
HersheyArchives@30, Part 5: Maroon and Silver
The familiar Hershey’s Milk Chocolate bar wrapper. The maroon and silver package, sometimes described as brown and silver, is identifiable at a glance. You can imagine the many versions and proofs Milton Hershey must have considered before settling on the now iconic wrapper design; the “face” of his new brand and his new product. Yet the […]
HersheyArchives@30, Part 4: Selling the Lancaster Caramel Company
What’s the story behind this American Caramel Company stock certificate? Milton Hershey’s caramel business was called the Lancaster Caramel Company. So why did Milton Hershey own stock in a rival company? The Lancaster Caramel Company dominated the United States confectionery market. Lancaster Caramel products were distributed nationally and internationally. Even though Lancaster Caramel Company dominated the […]
HersheyArchives@30, Part 3: “I am going to make chocolate.”
Milton Hershey made his fortune with caramels but he made history with chocolate. In 1893, while attending the Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Hershey told Frank Snavely, “Caramels are a fad but chocolate is permanent. I am going to make chocolate.” Milton Hershey was a reader of newspapers and an astute businessman. The increasing demand for […]
The Hershey Idea
Milton Hershey envisioned building a community in which all the parts were interwoven. He built a model town for the workers of chocolate factory AND the workers in the businesses he established to provide services to make the town an attractive and functional place to live. His desire to share his approach to business was […]
Back to School! Again!
By now, students everywhere are back in school. We can definitely feel it here in Hershey, as Hersheypark has closed, except for a few more weekends, and Hershey residents can drive through town without being slowed by tourist traffic. Hershey residents take pride in the quality of our public school system. Good schools were valued by Milton […]
Fore! Origins of the Hershey Country Club
In 1928, Milton Hershey authorized the construction of two new golf courses for Hershey. The first course was located next to Hershey Park and was named the Hershey Parkview course. Parkview was a public course, open to all golfers. The second course was laid out on land surrounding Milton Hershey’s home, High Point. This course incorporated the remaining holes of Hershey’s […]
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 […]
All You Need Are a Few Good Men…
Milton Hershey had a genius for selecting talented, energetic people to help him manage his business ventures. The leadership and skills of these men freed Milton Hershey to pursue new passions and ventures, including Milton Hershey School, Cuba, and experiments with new products. Foremost among Mr. Hershey’s key managers was William F.R. Murrie. Bill Murrie began work for the […]
The Man Behind the Myth: Milton S. Hershey
The Archives oral history collection provides insight into many aspects of the Hershey community: work, home life, recreation, education. Many of the interviews also contain personal memories of Milton Hershey. Milton Hershey is well honored for his many accomplishments and his generous spirit. The oral histories help us to better understand the man behind the honored name. […]
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, […]
Looking for Something to Do? Hershey’s YMCA
Providing opportunities for recreation and continuing education has always been an important part of the Hershey community. Today those opportunities are provided by a number of organizations, including the Hershey Public Library, Derry Township Parks and Recreation, The M.S. Hershey Foundation and community groups such as the Hershey Figure Skating Club, Hershey Symphony Orchestra and the Hershey Community Chorus, just to name a […]
Waste Not, Want Not: Hershey’s Cocoa Butter Soap
Milton Hershey did not like to have anything go to waste. He decided to make cocoa butter soap in 1936 as a way of dealing with the surplus million pounds of cocoa butter created by the plant each year. This surplus came from floor scrapings, unrecyclable product and cocoa shells. Hershey Estates President Charles Ziegler* remembered: We had a backlog […]
Bringing Educational Innovation to Hershey
The school year started that year on Monday, August 24, 1914. Hershey public schools had been growing rapidly since Milton Hershey opened his chocolate factory in 1905. Milton Hershey’s vision for changing the shape of public education in rural central Pennsylvania was first hinted at when he urged the Derry Township School District to establish a public high […]
M.S. Hershey Consolidated School
This week, thousands of Derry Township students returned to school, something that children have been doing in this township since the 1800s. “Tis education forms the common mind Just as the twig is bent, the tree’s inclined” – Alexander Pope, British poet, 1732 This quote comes from the Hershey Press. It was part of an editorial […]
A Picture Sometimes Needs a Few Words
Often, when we are processing a collection, we come across a photo that raises more questions than answers. Take this photo as an example: A close study of the photo does provide some clues. The background shows the pergolas and reflecting pools of the Hotel Hershey formal gardens. So we know that the dinner took […]
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, […]
A Palace for Hershey: Hotel Hershey Opens
A Palace that outpalaces the palaces of the Maharajas of India – Lowell Thomas, 1933 Building a hotel on Pat’s Hill had been a dream of Milton Hershey since 1909. At first, he and his wife, Kitty, thought they would build a grand structure modeled on The Heliopolis, a Cairo, Egypt resort. That dream was never realized and […]
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 […]
One Last Gift
In 1944 Milton Hershey signed a new will and testament to replace the one he had created in 1909, before he had transferred his fortune to the Milton Hershey School trust fund. The new will and testament was a brief, two page document. It provided that most of his “estate, real, personal and mixed,” should […]
A Window to the World: Hershey Park Zoo
Until the mid 20th century there were relatively few wild animal collections in the United States. Not surprisingly, zoos were a “big city” attraction. Large urban areas had the resources and the potential audience to support such an exotic and unique attraction. Some of the United States’ best known zoos, such as the Philadelphia Zoo (1874), […]
What’s the Weather?
Having a office in a windowless location often leaves me disconnected from the weather. All sorts of weather happens without my knowledge and I’m often surprised by it when I leave work at the end of the day. Wanting to know the weather is a desire shared by all who work in windowless environments. In […]
Celebrating Milton Hershey’s Birthday
1937 was a tumultuous year in Hershey. In January the CIO, a national trade union, organized Hershey Chocolate factory workers, establishing the plant’s first labor union. In April, the Hershey factory workers held Pennsylvania’s first sit-down strike following a breakdown in labor contract negotiations. Though short lived, the strike bitterly divided the town. As a […]
The Nickel Ride: Hershey’s Trolley System
When Milton Hershey returned to Derry Township to build his new chocolate factory, he returned to a largely rural area, dotted with small cross-roads communities that were tied together with dirt roads that were often little more than paths. Mr. Hershey knew that he would need to invest in developing the infrastructure of his new […]
Learning the Business
Milton Hershey launched his first business venture in Philadelphia in 1876, opening a confectionery shop and wholesale business. That year the city was hosting an international exposition celebrating the nation’s centennial anniversary. Hershey’s shop was located at 935 Spring Garden Street, a main pathway to Fairmount Park and the Centennial Exposition. Milton hoped to take […]
Learning a Trade
Many of us are not familiar with the story of Milton Hershey’s youth; before his financial success. This Milton Hershey was the teenager who first discovered his gift for candy-making at Royer’s Ice Cream Parlor and Garden, Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Milton Hershey’s first job was not as a confectioner but as a printer’s devil in 1871 for a […]
Mourning Milton Hershey
Until his death, Milton Hershey’s interest in new ideas and his concern for the well being of others remained a constant thread in his life. He lived to see the end of World War II and died on October 13, 1945, one month after his 88th birthday. True to his priorities, his will directed that his estate be […]
Bigger and Faster: Hershey Park’s Comet Roller Coaster
The end of World War II was celebrated at Hershey Park with the addition of a new roller coaster, the Comet. Opening for the 1946 season, the Comet replaced the 1923 Wild Cat roller coaster. Like the park’s first coaster, this one was designed and constructed by Herbert Schmeck and the Philadelphia Toboggan Company. One unique feature of this […]
“That’s a good bar”
In the 1920s Hershey Chocolate Company wanted to expand its product line and began experimenting with formulas for another nut bar. Samuel Hinkle, who began his career as a plant chemist in November 1924, spearheaded the company’s efforts. He shared vivid memories of developing the formula for Mr. Goodbar in 1925 in his 1975 oral […]
Providing for the Town’s Financial Needs: Hershey Trust Company
April 1905: Construction for the new chocolate factory had been completed during the winter and the factory was gearing up for full production. Construction of the Cocoa House had recently been completed. It provided housing and meals for single men as well as office space for a variety of businesses needed by the new town. […]
Serving Our Country: Hershey Chocolate’s Contributions to World War II
Hershey Chocolate products played a critical role supplying the military during World War II. Before the war Hershey Chocolate Corporation had worked with the United States Army Quartermaster Corps to develop the formula for a survival ration bar, labeled the Ration ‘D’ bar. After the United States entered the war, Hershey Chocolate Corporation produced millions of […]
Playing to Win: The Hershey Open Golf Tournament
Hershey Country Club was formally established when Milton Hershey hosted a dinner party at his home, High Point, for one hundred of his friends on April 27, 1930. Preceding dinner, Mr. Hershey announced he was donating his home to the new Hershey Country Club for use as a clubhouse. He went on to explain that […]
Hershey Press Launches
1909 Hershey, with big plans for its future, was still a modest community of about 250 people. While the chocolate factory employed several hundred people, most of the workers lived in the surrounding communities, using the Hershey trolley system to travel to work each day. Hershey Park was essentially a community park, the only ride […]
Seeking Thrills: Hershey Park’s First Roller Coaster
Hershey celebrated its 20th anniversary in 1923, and Milton Hershey’s present to the town was a new roller coaster for Hershey Park. Named the Wild Cat, it was nearly a mile in length and it had “more dips and deeper dips than any of like construction in America.” It was put into operation on June […]
Army-Navy ‘E’ Award
Hershey played a significant role on the home front supporting the war effort during World War II. In recognition of its outstanding efforts, Hershey Chocolate Corporation received the Army-Navy ‘E’ Production Award at a special ceremony held August 22, 1942. At the Award ceremony, Major General Edmond B.Gregory noted the company’s achievements stating, “The men […]
The Past is Prologue: Hershey Museum
The newest incarnation of the Hershey Museum, The Hershey Story was dedicated on January 30. But having a museum in our community is not new. Milton Hershey intended to make his community an interesting and enjoyable place to live, work, and visit. In addition to endowing a school for orphaned boys, Hershey contributed millions of dollars for […]