Milton S. Hershey
American chocolatier, businessman, and philanthropist
1857 CE to 1945 CE
Milton Snavely Hershey (September 13, 1857 – October 13, 1945) is an American chocolatier, businessman, and philanthropist.
Trained in the confectionery business, Hershey pioneers the manufacture of caramel, using fresh milk.
He launches the Lancaster Caramel Company, which achieves bulk exports, then sells it to start a new company supplying mass-produced milk chocolate, previously a luxury good.
The first Hershey bars are sold in 1900 and proves so popular that he was able to build his own company town of Hershey, Pennsylvania.
Hershey's philanthropy extends to a boarding school, originally for local orphans, but accommodating around two thousand students as of 2016.
In the Second World War, the company develops a special non-melting bar for troops serving overseas
The Hershey Company, known as Hershey's, is one of the world's biggest confectionery manufacturers.
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Milton S. Hershey introduces the milk chocolate Hershey bar in the United States in 1900.
Born on September 13, 1857, to Henry and Veronica "Fanny" (née Snavely) Hershey, of Swiss and German descent, his family are members of Pennsylvania's Mennonite community, and Milton had grown up speaking Pennsylvania Dutch.
Like many rural young people of the time, Milton was expected to help out on the family farm, and he learned early on of the value of hard work and perseverance.
Henry Hershey rarely stayed anywhere very long, and was prone to leaving his wife and child for long periods.
Because of this, Hershey had a very limited education with no schooling beyond the fourth grade.
In 1871, Milton Hershey had left school for good and been apprenticed to a local printer, Sam Ernst, who published a German-English newspaper.
He disliked that kind of work and found it very boring.
One day at work there, he accidentally dropped his hat in one of the machines
Because his boss was hot-tempered, he was fired shortly after.
He was worried to see how his parents would react.
His father asked Ernst to take him back, and he did decide to give him a second chance, but Mattie Snavely, his aunt, and his mother wanted him to learn the trade of candy making instead, so his mother arranged for her fourteen year old son to be apprenticed to a confectioner named Joseph Royer in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
Over the next four years, Hershey learned the craft of creating confections.
In 1876, he moved to Philadelphia to start his first confectionery business.
He then traveled to Denver and, finding work at a local confectioners, learned how to make caramels using fresh milk.
Hershey then went to New Orleans and Chicago looking for opportunities, before settling in New York City in 1883 and training at Huyler's
He started his second business which, while initially successful, lasted only three years, closing in 1886.
Returning to Lancaster in 1883, he had borrowed money from the bank to start the Lancaster Caramel Company, which had quickly become a success.
He used the caramel recipe he had obtained during his previous travels to make candies.
Also, from his previous travels, he learned that caramels sell better in bulk, so that is what he did.
This company soon became a success when a man from England visited Lancaster.
He loved Hershey's candies once he tasted them and placed a big order to be delivered to Britain.
Hershey was able to pay off his debt and had money left over to buy more ingredients and equipment.
By the early 1890s Lancaster Caramel Company had grown, employing over 1,300 workers in two factories.
After traveling to Chicago for the World's Columbian Exposition, Hershey became interested in chocolate.
After a long decision-making process, he took a risk and sold Lancaster Caramel Company for one million dollars to start the Hershey Chocolate Company.
Using the proceeds from the 1900 sale of the Lancaster Caramel Company, Hershey initially acquired farm land roughly thirty miles (fifty kilometers) northwest of Lancaster, near his birthplace of Derry Township.
Here, he can obtain the large supplies of fresh milk needed to perfect and produce fine milk chocolate.
Excited by the potential of milk chocolate, which at this time is a luxury product, Hershey is determined to develop a formula for milk chocolate and market and sell it to the American public.
Through trial and error, he creates his own formula for milk chocolate
The first Hershey bar is produced in 1900.