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Milton S. Hershey was born on September 13, 1857. His mother gave birth to him in Derry Township, Pennsylvania (now known as Hershey, PA).
Hershey spoke Pennsylvania Dutch, as his parents were Swiss German immigrants.
He had no education beyond the 4th grade, but despite his lack of education, he went on to become a pioneering candy entrepreneur and philanthropist.
Like any career, Milton Hershey’s early life had setbacks and crucial learning experiences.
At 14, he left school to apprentice with a Lancaster confectioner. The Lancaster man would teach him everything he needed to know about making candy.
Hershey went on to start his first independent venture in Philadelphia at age 19, but the business failed after six years.
It wouldn’t be till he left for Denver that Hershey discovered the key to his first success: using fresh milk to make caramels.
Using this knowledge, he created the Lancaster Caramel Company, which gave him the experience he needed to eventually start his chocolate empire.
Milton Hershey’s visit to the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago made the wheels spin in his head. He became awe-struck with the new chocolate-making equipment he saw at the conference.
This newfound passion led him to sell his successful Lancaster Caramel Company for $1 million in 1900. A million bucks was a lot of money back then.
The funds allowed him to fully dedicate himself to the art of chocolate.
It laid the foundation for one of the world’s most famous chocolate brands.
It wasn’t so easy in the early years. Hershey went through years of experimentation and trial and error,
His biggest challenge was the moisture content and milk fat he needed to make milk chocolate. He eventually invented a unique method of using fresh milk to create affordable milk chocolate.
His chocolate was first sold in 1900.
The Hershey Chocolate Factory opened in 1905.
It fulfilled Hershey’s dream of mass-producing milk chocolate at an affordable price.
It helped him create iconic products like Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Bar and Hershey’s Kisses.
These candy bars remain popular today.
Milton founded Hershey, Pennsylvania, in 1903.
It was a modest settlement of 700 people before he came to town.
But he saw potential and grew it to a thriving company town. He implemented modern amenities, an amusement park, and a philanthropic school for orphaned boys.
During the Great Depression, Hershey launched a “Great Building Campaign” to provide jobs.
One of the big projects of the time was the Hotel Hershey and Hersheypark Arena.
One of his worst legacies was reducing employee hours and stopping annual bonuses.
This would lead to a violent strike at the chocolate factory in 1937. Hershey’s legacy was tarnished again when he sent me to beat strikers to the pulp.
Milton Hershey narrowly escaped death. The story goes that he canceled his ticket on the ill-fated Titanic at the last minute in 1912.
Ironically, he boarded the Amerika, which reportedly warned the Titanic about the icebergs on its path.
During World War II, Hershey Chocolate Corporation mass-produced a special “Field Ration D” chocolate bar for the U.S. military.
It was designed to taste slightly better than a boiled potato and withstand high temperatures without melting.
Hershey scaled up from making 100,000 ration bars per day.
In 1939, it was an estimated 24 million units per week by the end of 1945.
The company produced over 3 billion ration units distributed to soldiers worldwide.
They even sent some of the bars to Antarctica with Admiral Byrd’s expedition in 1939.
Milton Hershey founded the Hershey Industrial School in 1909. The goal was to provide education and a home for orphaned boys. Since he never had kids, this was a great way of giving back to the world.
In 1918, Hershey transferred the majority of his assets, including control of his company, to a trust fund benefiting the school.
Upon his death in 1945, Hershey had no biological children with his wife Catherine and left his entire fortune to the school.
The school continues to operate today as the Milton Hershey School.
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