Milton Hershey: Founder of The Hershey Company
Business Owner · Food & Beverage
Milton Hershey left school after fourth grade, learned candy-making as a teenager and made milk chocolate an affordable staple with the Hershey bar in 1900, building the company town of Hershey, Pennsylvania.
About Milton Hershey: Founder of The Hershey Company
Milton Snavely Hershey (September 13, 1857 to October 13, 1945) was an American chocolatier, businessman and philanthropist. Trained in the confectionery business, he pioneered the manufacture of caramel using fresh milk, launched the Lancaster Caramel Company, which achieved bulk exports, and then sold it to start a new company supplying mass-produced milk chocolate, previously a luxury good. The first Hershey bars were sold in 1900 and proved so popular that he was able to build his own company town, Hershey, Pennsylvania. In World War II the company developed a special non-melting bar for troops serving overseas, and The Hershey Company is one of the world's biggest confectionery manufacturers. Hershey was born to Henry and Veronica "Fanny" Snavely Hershey, of Swiss and German descent, in the Mennonite community of Pennsylvania, and grew up speaking Pennsylvania Dutch. With no schooling beyond the fourth grade, he left school in 1871 and was apprenticed to a local printer, soon lost that job and took up the candy trade, when his mother arranged for him at 14 to apprentice under the Lancaster confectioner Joseph Royer, with whom he studied for four years. In 1876 he moved to Philadelphia to start his first confectionery business. His philanthropy extended to a boarding school, originally for local orphans, that accommodated around 2,000 students as of 2016. Sources: English Wikipedia (Milton S. Hershey, accessed September 2026).
Basic Information
Founder, The Hershey Company (1857-1945)
Company Details
The Hershey Company
Chocolate, Confectionery
Related Business Owner
Latest Articles
Alana Evans Net Worth in 2026 – Income Sources, Career & Earnings
Amy Lee Net Worth 2026: Income Sources, Evanescence Career & Personal Life
Abz Love Net Worth 2026: Five Star’s Career, TV Comeback & Income Breakdown
