When you decide to pick up Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, a Mr. Goodbar, or Milk Duds at the store or at the theater concession stand, you might not think about the story behind The Hershey Company. I know I never did. I just knew I liked my Hershey’s Special Dark and love to keep a stash of Kisses and Hugs of several varieties in the refrigerator door. But I never thought about how they got to be in that refrigerator door.
Then I read about the opening of the Hershey Museum on January 9 this year. The new facility, located at 111 W. Chocolate Avenue in Hershey, Pennsylvania, is actually the continuation in a long line of community projects Milton Hershey began 100 years ago, in 1909, when he established the Hershey Industrial School. He went on to set up the M.S. Hershey Foundation, the Hershey Museum, the Hershey Gardens, the Hershey Theater, and the Hershey Community Archives.
American chocolate gets a bad rap as "not as good" as European chocolate, but if it weren’t for Milton Hershey, we (meaning the masses) would not have the access to chocolate that we do now. It’s because of his recipe that he was able to mass produce chocolate candy at a low enough cost that it could be sold to everyday, normal American Joes and Janes like us. Before Hershey, only the rich had access to chocolate.
But tasty as that chocolate is, it is not Milton Hershey’s only legacy, and that’s what the opening of the Hershey Museum’s new facility is all about. While there has a been a museum since 1933, consisting of Native American and Pennsylvania German artifacts, more recently the museum has focused on the history and science of chocolate.
The opening of the $23.5 million new building includes not only the artifacts and story of Milton Hershey’s life, but also shows the innovations Hershey made in taste, manufacturing, management, and advertising. The museum also features a chocolate lab full of hands-on and interactive exploration of the chocolate making process and a working Kiss machine, showing how the chocolate goes from the liquid state to a foil wrapped piece of candy with a plume out the top, as well as many other exhibits. According to Jill Manley, Director of Communications and Public Relations for the M. S. Hershey Foundation (the foundation that funds the museum), one of the features visitors are most impressed by is the lobby. "Everyone loves the grandness of the lobby. It's modeled after the 1893 Columbian Exposition, where Milton Hershey purchased his first chocolate-making equipment."
As Ms. Manley notes, while many of the visitors to the museum are tourists, it is also a hub in a thriving community, used as an educational fieldtrip for school children who live in the area. According to Amy Bishof, Associate Director of the Hershey Museum, chocolate classes for visiting school children range from the science, manufacturing, and history of chocolate, to the economics, geography, art and cooking of chocolate.
When asked if they ever get visitors who don’t like chocolate, Ms. Manley said, "Oh sure … but The Hershey Story is really a celebration of Milton Hershey, his entrepreneurship, ingenuity and philanthropy. Everything in the building comes back to him." Ms. Bishof agreed, pointing out that one of the most inspiring parts of visiting the museum is learning about the perseverance and creativity of Milton Hershey, and his desire to help others have a better life.
Hershey’s life is rife with examples of how hard work and determination can pay off, a welcome message in these hard times. He never received more than a 4th grade education, and failed at two businesses. Yet, after finally succeeding with his caramel company, he started the Hershey Chocolate Company in 1894 (selling his caramel company for a million dollars in 1900), and by 1909 he had enough to open his school. By 1918 Hershey quietly transferred the majority of his assets, about $60 million dollars, over to the Milton Hershey School Trust. The public didn’t know about it until 1923 when it was finally reported in the New York Times.
Chocolate, though not a necessity, does make life sweeter. Maybe that’s something Milton Hershey was able to tap into – the grounding sweetness of chocolate candy. When asked what their favorite Hershey’s chocolate candy was, Ms. Bishof chose first Take Five, before amending her choice and saying she liked Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, too. It was also difficult for Ms. Manley to choose only one. "Dark Chocolate Bliss. No, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. Can I have two?"
The Hershey Museum tells the story not only of chocolate manufacturing in America, but also of one American’s dream for a better life for himself and others around him. And he did it through chocolate.
You can find more information about Milton Hershey and the Hershey Museum here.
