Milton Snavely Hershey (September 13, 1857 – October 13, 1945) was a confectioner, philanthropist, and founder of The Hershey Chocolate Company and the “company town” of Hershey, Pennsylvania.
Hershey was born on a farm near the Dauphin County, Pennsylvania town of Derry Church (renamed Hershey in 1906), the only surviving child of Henry and Fanny Snavley Hershey. Due to the family’s frequent moves he dropped out of school after the fourth grade ...
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Milton Snavely Hershey (September 13, 1857 – October 13, 1945) was a confectioner, philanthropist, and founder of The Hershey Chocolate Company and the “company town” of Hershey, Pennsylvania.
Hershey was born on a farm near the Dauphin County, Pennsylvania town of Derry Church (renamed Hershey in 1906), the only surviving child of Henry and Fanny Snavley Hershey. Due to the family’s frequent moves he dropped out of school after the fourth grade and was then apprenticed to a Lancaster, Pennsylvania, printer. The apprenticeship was soon terminated as he did not like the craft and purposely let his hat fall into the printing press.
He then served a four-year apprenticeship with a Lancaster candy maker, after which he established his first candy-making business in Philadelphia. That initial effort failed, as did his next two attempts in Chicago and New York City. His Reformed Mennonite mother’s family financed several of these unsuccessful ventures in the candy industry. His mother was...
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