| Milton S. Hershey | |
|---|---|
| Born | Milton Snavely Hershey September 13, 1857 Derry Church, Pennsylvania, United States |
| Died | October 13, 1945 (aged 88) Hershey, Pennsylvania, United States |
| Resting place | Hershey |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | Finished only fourth grade |
| Known for | Founder, Hershey Foods Corporation, philanthropist |
| Religion | Mennonite |
| Spouse | Catherine "Kitty" Sweeney (1871-1915) |
| Parents | Henry Hershey, Fanny Snavely Hershey |
| Website | |
| www.Hersheys.com | |
Milton Snavely Hershey (September 13, 1857 – October 13, 1945) was an American confectioner, philanthropist, and founder of The Hershey Chocolate Company and the "company town" of Hershey, Pennsylvania.
He was honored by the United States Postal Service with a 32¢ Great Americans series (1980–2000) postage stamp.
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Milton Hershey was born on September 13, 1857, to Veronica "Fanny" Snavely and Henry Hershey. The Snavely family were a well to-do Mennonite family. The nomadic Henry Hershey never stayed anywhere very long. He was prone to leaving his wife and child for long periods. When he was in his late teens and 20s, Milton would travel with his father on his sales trips. After one lengthy visit to Chicago, Milton grew tired of Chicago and returned to Pennsylvania. Milton returning was a great joy for "Aunt Mattie" (Martha Snavely, Fanny's sister) who loved Milton as if he were her own son. Milton's return was short-lived though. He soon left for New York. [1]
Returning to Lancaster in 1886, Hershey established the Lancaster Caramel Company, which quickly became an outstanding success. Utilizing a caramel recipe he had obtained during his previous travels, his company soared to the top. It was this business that established him as a candy maker, and set the stage for future accomplishments.
Hershey became fascinated with the machinery to make German chocolate exhibited at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition by J. M. Lehman Co. of Dresden, Germany,[2] and bought the equipment for his company.
With the proceeds from the 1900 sale of the Lancaster Caramel Company, Hershey initially acquired some 1,200 acres (4.9 km2) of farm land about 30 miles northwest of Lancaster, near his birthplace of Derry Church. There, he could obtain the large supplies of fresh milk needed to perfect and produce fine milk chocolate. Excited by the potential of milk chocolate, which at that time was a Swiss luxury product, Hershey was determined to develop a formula for milk chocolate and market and sell it to the American public. Through trial and error, he created his own formula for milk chocolate. On March 2, 1903, he began construction on what was to become the world’s largest chocolate manufacturing plant. The facility, completed in 1905, was designed to manufacture chocolate using the latest mass production techniques. Hershey’s milk chocolate quickly became the first nationally marketed product of its kind.
The factory was in the center of dairy farmland, but with Hershey’s support, houses, businesses, churches, and a transportation infrastructure accreted around the plant. Because the land was surrounded by dairy farms, he was able to use fresh milk to mass-produce quality milk chocolate. Hershey continued to experiment and perfect the process of making milk chocolate using the techniques he had first learned for adding milk to make caramels when he had moved to Colorado.
Hershey envisioned a complete community around his factory site. He built a model town for his employees that included comfortable homes, an inexpensive public transportation system, a quality public school system and extensive recreational and cultural opportunities. Hershey avoided building a faceless company town with row houses. He wanted a home town with tree-lined streets, single- and two-family brick houses, and manicured lawns. He was concerned about providing adequate recreation and diversions, so he built Hershey Park (now rendered "Hersheypark"), which opened on April 24, 1907 and expanded rapidly over the next several years. Amusement rides, a swimming pool, and a ballroom were added. Soon, trolley cars and trains were bringing thousands of out-of-town visitors to the park. Hershey established a sugar mill in Havana Province,Cuba. There they built a town with schools, church, etc. In addition a railroad between The cities of Havana & Matanzas was constructed to facilitate the transportation of sugar to the ports and be shipped to the US. As a service to those communities passengers train were offered which ran 60 miles using electric operated cars. After 1959,with Castro in power, the Hershey's properties were nationalized.Reference Dr. J.T. Munoz, Cuban born. Saint Petersburg,FL
On May 25, 1898, Hershey married Catherine "Kitty" Sweeney. Since the couple could not have children, they decided to benefit others, establishing the Hershey Industrial School with a Deed of Trust in 1909.[3] Catherine died prematurely in 1915 and Hershey never remarried. In 1918, Hershey transferred the majority of his assets, including control of the company, to the Milton Hershey School Trust fund, to benefit the Industrial School. The trust fund has a majority of voting shares in The Hershey Company, allowing it to keep control of the company. In 1951, the school was renamed the Milton Hershey School. The Milton Hershey School Trust also has 100% control of Hershey Entertainment and Resorts Company, which owns the Hotel Hershey and HersheyPark, among other properties. He took great pride in the growth of the school, the town, and his business. He placed the quality of his product and the well-being of his workers ahead of profits.[4]
In 1935, Hershey established the M.S. Hershey Foundation, a private charitable foundation that provides educational and cultural opportunities for Hershey residents. The foundation supplies funding for three entities: the Hershey Museum and Hershey Gardens, the Hershey Theatre and the Hershey Community Archives.
The founding of the Penn State Hershey Medical Center/Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center occurred when the board of the trust went to the Dauphin County Orphans Court with the cy-près doctrine (cy près is a French phrase meaning "As close as possible"). It was a gift from the Milton Hershey School Trust to the people of Pennsylvania, with an initial endowment of $50 million and only one restriction—the hospital had to be built in Hershey. The hospital is a teaching hospital with an annual budget exceeding the initial construction cost.
In 1912, the Hersheys were to travel on the ill-fated British luxury liner RMS Titanic. However, they canceled their reservations because Kitty Hershey was ill at the time.[6] Instead, they booked passage to New York city on the German luxury liner Amerika. The Hershey Museum displays a copy of the check Hershey wrote to the White Star Line as a deposit for a first class stateroom on the Titanic.[7]
Hershey Chocolate supplied the US armed forces with chocolate bars during World War II. These bars were called Ration D Bars and Tropical Chocolate Bars. The Ration D Bar had very specific requirements from the Army: It had to weigh 1 or 2 ounces (28 or 57 g); it had to resist melting at higher temperatures than 90 degrees, and it had to have an unpleasant-enough flavor to prevent the troops from developing cravings for them. After a year or two, the Army was impressed enough with the durability and success of the Ration D Bar to commission Milton to make the Tropical Chocolate Bar. The only difference between them was that the Tropical Chocolate Bar was made to taste better than the Ration D Bar did and still be as durable as the Ration D Bar was. Tropical Chocolate Bars were designed not to melt in the tropical weather. It is estimated that between 1940 and 1945, over 3 billion of the Ration D Bars and Tropical Chocolate Bars were produced and distributed to soldiers throughout the world. In 1939, the Hershey plant was capable of producing 100,000 ration bars a day. By the end of World War II, the entire Hershey plant was producing ration bars at a rate of 24 million a week. For their service throughout World War II, the Hershey Chocolate Company was issued five Army-Navy 'E' Production Awards for exceeding expectations for quality and quantity in the production of the Ration D Bar and Tropical Chocolate Bar. The Hershey factory machine shop even made some parts for tanks and machines during the war.
Milton S. Hershey died at the age of 88 on October 13, 1945, in Hershey Hospital, a year after he had retired from the board.
