Milton Hershey was born on September 13, 1857 on a farm in Pennsylvania. He was an only child growing up. Milton's mother raised him in the strict discipline of the Mennonite faith. His family frequently moved around, thus causing him only to reach the fourth grade. Milton decided to go into the candy making business. His first attempt was in Philadelphia, PA. Unfortunately his first time in Philly, second time in Chicago, and third time in New York all failed. Finally Mr. Hershey returned to Lancaster in 1883 to establish the Lancaster Caramel Company. This became a huge success.
What got Mr. Hershey started on chocolate was his fascination with German chocolate-making machinery. He bought the equipment for his own factory and soon began to produce many varieties
of chocolate. As his chocolate creations grew,
Milton decided to sell his factory to focus solely on his chocolate business. He sold his Lancaster Caramel Company for 1 million dollars...back in 1900!! Mr. Hershey returned to Derry, PA, where he grew up, to build and open a chocolate factory. He knew he could get a fresh supply of milk for his chocolate
creations.
At the time milk chocolate was a Swiss luxury product. No one in the United States had started to produce milk chocolate. It took Mr. Hershey several trial and error stages to get the perfect recipe for the milk chocolate that we love today. Hershey's milk chocolate rapidly became the first nationally marketed product of its kind.
As the chocolate company grew and the mass amounts of money began flowing in...Milton Hershey had MANY more plans for his business and the surrounding area that he lived in. Until next time...keep reading! :-)
This is very interesting! I didn't know Milton Hershey tried to establish a plant any where other than in PA. And do you know that the "S." in Milton S. Hershey stands for? It stands for Snavely, making me distantly related to him.
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