Every year around certain holidays, Americans purchase their favorite candies to eat, give out, and possibly even hoard (you know you do it!). Milton Hershey, the founder of Hershey Food Corporation, was the mastermind of many of those beloved sweets.
The next time you pop one of the chocolaty treats in your mouth, remember that a young man from a very modest background built one of the country’s most prolific companies and left an enduring legacy of kindness and philanthropy.
Milton Hershey might not have been Willy Wonka, but he was the next best thing, bringing us Heath Bars, Almond Joys, Mr. Goodbar, and so much more.
1. Milton Hershey Had a Fourth Grade Education
It wasn't uncommon for children from the working class in the 1800s to not finish school, and Milton Hershey was no exception. His family moved around a lot when he was a child, and by the time he finished fourth grade, his parents decided it was time for him to learn a trade.
The family moved back to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where young Milton became an apprentice to a printer. He wasn’t a fan of the printing business and soon began learning the candy-making trade under a confectioner's tutelage.
2. Caramel Was His First Love
Many may not know, but Hershey didn’t set out to become a chocolatier. His first love was caramel, and he insisted on creating the best caramel ever. After traveling and living in other parts of the country, Hershey eventually returned to Pennsylvania and started the successful Lancaster Caramel Company.
Here, he perfected the creamy morsel by using fresh milk. His caramel production employed over 1,300 workers across two factories.
3. Hershey Once Made Gum
In anticipation of Beechnut Gum competing with Hershey in the chocolate game, Hershey tasked his cousin, Clayton Snavely, with purchasing equipment and gathering the know-how to create a competing chewing gum product.
“Easy Chew” was first introduced in 1915; however, the company had trouble obtaining certain ingredients needed due to import restrictions on non-essential products because of the world war that was raging at the time. Retailers last stocked Easy Chew in 1924.
4. Origins of the KISSES Name
Where did the name KISSES come from? That’s the 64,000 dollar question, and Milton went to his grave with the answer. No one in or out of the company knows where the most popular candy Hershey produces got its name.
A popular theory is that it originated from the sound made when the delectable treat is deposited on the conveyor belt during manufacturing.
5. KISSES Used To Be Wrapped by Hand
In 1907, Hershey KISSES creators introduced the sweet little morsel, and in 1908, they added almonds to it. However, factory employees wrapped each piece by hand until 1921.
Fourteen years after the candy was introduced to stores, developers created a machine to wrap the bell-shaped chocolates in foil with their signature plumes.
6. Hershey, PA, Was Built For Factory Employees
Milton Hershey wanted to ensure that his employees were happy and well cared for and that his company thrived. In doing so, he developed a model town for them that included brick houses and well-maintained lawns.
As the town flourished, other businesses arrived and set up shops, and subsequently, transportation infrastructure was developed. Hersheypark was also built so families could enjoy a recreational space.
7. The Birth of a Logo
When Hershey first created his chocolate company, he wanted the logo to reflect the promise of a new business. What better image for that than a baby in a cocoa bean? In August 1898, Hershey introduced the Cocoa Bean Baby trademark to remind customers that all the products came from one source: the cocoa bean.
The original logo remained in place for seven decades until the company was reorganized as Hershey Foods Corporation. The new symbol of the corporation was a stylized letter “H” that the company still uses today.
8. The Name Mr. Goodbar Was a Misunderstanding
In the 1920s, the company wanted to add a product that included peanuts. A plant chemist and later company president, Samuel Hinkle, initially shared how the candy bar was named Mr. Goodbar. Mr. Hershey was hard of hearing by this time, and while in a meeting, an employee tasted the newly introduced candy bar and said, “That’s a good bar.” Hershey misheard him and thought the executive had said, “Mr. Goodbar.”
He liked the name, so it stuck.
9. US Military Relationship with Hershey
When the United States entered WWII, the chocolate maker met with representatives from the US Army. Their request? Create a chocolate ration bar that could withstand combat conditions and “taste a little better than a boiled potato.”
The soldiers didn’t exactly love the Field Ration D bars, but that didn’t stop the army from giving each soldier three bars as his full day’s provisions. Hershey produced more than a billion of these bars between 1941 and 1945.
10. Hershey Chocolate Has Been to the Moon
After successfully creating the Ration D bar, Hershey once again worked with the military to develop another heat-resistant bar. The “Hershey Tropical Chocolate Bar” could last up to an hour in 120-degree temperatures. It was given to soldiers who were deployed to much warmer and tropical climates.
In 1971, the astronauts aboard Apollo 15 took them with them on their mission to the moon.
11. Guinness World Record Holder
In 2007, in honor of their 100th anniversary celebration, Hershey made a giant Hershey KISS that weighed over 30,000 pounds. One hundred fifty-two employees completed this gigantic task over nine days. The 12-foot-tall chocolate sculpture required 16,000 feet of foil wrap to encase it completely, signature plume and all.
The result? Being rewarded the Guinness World Record Holder of “World’s Largest Piece of Chocolate (Individual).”
12. Milton Hershey Legacy
In addition to being a shrewd and successful businessman, Milton Hershey and his wife, Catherine, were also generous philanthropists. In 1909, they created the Hershey Industrial School. He also established the M.S. Hershey Foundation in 1935, a private charitable foundation that provides educational and cultural opportunities to the residents of Hershey.
The Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center was founded in 1963 with an initial endowment of $50 million from the trust. One stipulation, though, was that the center had to be built in Hershey, Pennsylvania.
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