Food Fact, Feb. 9: Hershey Makes History

Photo: JacQuLyne/Flickr

On February 9 in …

1894
Hershey’s Chocolate Company is founded

(© 2011 Michael V. Hynes)

The Backstory
Milton Hershey was the son of Mennonites from Lancaster County, PA. His father was inquisitive and bright, but struggled as a businessman. The family moved often; young Hershey attended seven schools in eight years of formal schooling. The chocolate company we all now know is actually the third confectionary business Hershey began, and the only one to succeed. But succeed it did. Understatement.

After several profitable years circa 1893 producing caramel, Hershey became convinced that the future of candy was in chocolate. Til that time, however, only the Swiss had perfected the process of making milk chocolate. Apparently, they weren’t too keen on sharing their how-to. Hershey perfected his own formula for producing milk chocolate through much experimentation.

With the founding of Hershey’s Chocolate Company in 1894, chocolate soon reached the masses: Hershey packaged his chocolate for sale at newsstands, grocery stores and vending machines (an early ad reads: “Hershey’s Vanilla Sweet Chocolate: Pure, Delicious and Nutritious”). The iconic molded chocolate bar was introduced in 1900, the Hershey’s Kiss in 1907. A year later, Hershey’s introduced its milk chocolate bar with almonds. What followed was a full-fledged town (never incorporated, to this day) with facilities and services for workers, a school for orphaned boys (still extant but co-ed, still serving the underprivileged), massive wealth, a Trust Company and Foundation and, of course, an amusement park. Hershey’s is today the largest producer of ‘quality’ chocolate in North America, with a strong global presence. It is an amazing, quintessentially American story, indeed.