A HISTORY OF HERSHEY ESTATES
A unique town exploded onto the rural landscape of central Pennsylvania in 1903, brought into existence from the visionary mind of Milton S. Hershey and his establishment of what would become the world's largest chocolate factory.
A Town is Born
The multiple entities Hershey established provided all things needed for a thriving community: jobs, places to live, commodities and supplies, utilities and services, education, cultural and recreational opportunities. Due to Milton Hershey's interest in the health and welfare of his townspeople, Hershey, Pennsylvania was like no other "company town." Everything a growing, thriving town needed, he provided...
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a beautiful recreational park, large convention hall, dance pavilion, and swimming pool
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a bank and a department store
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a hospital and a first-of-its-kind consolidated school
…to name just a few of the town's early amenities. Later, during one of our country's most depressed decades, he would subsidize the building of a world-class hotel, a community building with a magnificent theatre, a high school for his Hershey Industrial School orphans, a state-of-the-art chocolate factory office, an innovative sports arena, and a big-city stadium.
“I am trying to build here a place where people can be happy and contented
while they work and live."
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Success Magazine article 1927
Hershey
From the beginning, the town nurtured a multi-faceted experience for its residents – and continues to draw visitors to take in its many offerings.
"I am carrying out the terms of my own will while I am still living… If I should pass tomorrow everything would go on just as it is going on now… After all, what good is one's money unless one uses it for the good of the community and humanity in general?"
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A Town Grows and Thrives
The industrialists who spawned America's infrastructure and commerce were nothing without their labor force. Some were paternalistic, creating communities that supported their employees to induce greater returns, some focused solely on their own capital gain.
MS Hershey was not only paternalistic, but he was also focused on the people as much as on his product. He was unquestionably dedicated to ensuring his workers had first class amenities, guaranteeing certain rights for their benefit, and devising opportunities in which to spend their free time with their families. For manufacturing employees in some other places and other industries, a day off was not a guarantee, wages were much less than fair, standard housing was never a promise, and scrip was issued in place of cash — requiring workers to use company businesses.
Lowell, Massachusetts, considered the first industrial company town in America, required female employees to attend church and wakened them to a daily factory bell in their dorm. In Pullman, Illinois, where railroad cars were the commodity, residents were not allowed to own their homes and even the books for the library were monitored. George Pullman responded to an economic depression by lowering wages but not rents or other costs, ultimately leading to one of the largest strikes in labor history, resulting in the creation of Labor Day.
Unlike other manufacturing towns, created only to sustain production, Hershey looked and smelled like a sweet utopia. It rang out with the sounds of cheering crowds and Broadway shows, and hosted Henry Picard and Ben Hogan as golf pros.
It produced or provided most household needs from food and soap to greenery and fashion, gas for cars and coal for the homes. Today, hockey goal buzzers still buzz, golfers still hit the greens, and the Gardens still flourish. As for other manufacturing communities which still exist, many do so as national parks or historic museums. But none have so successfully evolved, thrived, and yet retained the very foundation and economic base as Hershey has. All of this was envisioned at the inception of planning for a small manufacturing town; a unique town that promised a lot and provided even more.
Hershey
From the town's earliest days, Mr. Hershey created an infrastructure for the community that provided everything his citizens might need. In 1906, he established the Hershey Improvement Company (HIC) which provided electricity, telephone service, water, and a waste management—sewerage system. HIC also promoted the sale of real estate and assumed management of details typically taken care of by a municipal government. At this time, all the non-chocolate services still operated under the umbrella of the Chocolate Company.
From the town's earliest days, Mr. Hershey created an infrastructure for the community that provided everything his citizens might need. In 1906, he established the Hershey Improvement Company (HIC) which provided electricity, telephone service, water, and a waste management—sewerage system. HIC also promoted the sale of real estate and assumed management of details typically taken care of by a municipal government. At this time, all the non-chocolate services still operated under the umbrella of the Chocolate Company.
However, when Hershey stock was traded publicly on the NYSE in 1927, it became imperative to separate non-chocolate functions from the chocolate-making company. In that same year, Hershey Estates was created and assumed the responsibility of HIC and all non-chocolate businesses. Hershey Estates became part of the holdings for the benefit of the Milton Hershey's orphanage for boys.
​During the years of its existence, from 1927 to 1976, Hershey Estates oversaw 33 separate companies. They covered everything from A to Z—Abattoir to Zoo, birth to death—Hershey Hospital to Hershey Cemetery.
Municipal government was not necessary – the Estates embodied the authority and tools to provide administrative oversight, services, and utilities required to manage a small but robust manufacturing community. They provided street lighting, repaired sidewalks, and roads, and made zoning decisions; they offered retail, service, and lodging opportunities; they operated an amusement park and a hockey team.
Times change, and Hershey Estates had to change with them. Small privately owned utilities were a thing of the past. The Park was far from self-sustaining, and other divisions operating at a loss were a constant and increasing drain of the company’s funds—among them upkeep of local roads.
In 1976, the Estates divested itself of everything except the local entertainment and resort entities. Hersheypark had been enclosed and re-created as a theme park. Attention was now focused on the promotion of Hotel Hershey, Hershey Motor Lodge, the Park, concerts, and hockey in the Sports Arena. A new name was warranted, and the company rebranded as HERCO, Inc. in 1998, then renamed Hershey Entertainment and Resorts (HE&R), which remains a privately held company for the benefit of the Milton Hershey School.