16 surprising things you probably didn't know about Hershey

Born in 1857, Milton S. Hershey attended seven different schools a kid. He changes schools often due to his family's failed business endeavors ― he stopped attending school after fourth grade.

When Hershey was 14 years old, he took on a printing apprenticeship, but that didn't last long either.

Eventually, Hershey found a trade that held his interest — candy-making. An 1872 apprenticeship at a confectionery shop in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, paved the way for his future chocolate empire.

Yet Hershey, who launched his first business at age 19 in Philadelphia, wasn't successful at first. He attempted a few more candy businesses in Chicago, New Orleans, and New York before starting the profitable Lancaster Caramel Company.

After encountering German chocolate-making equipment at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, Hershey purchased his own tools of the chocolate trade. In 1900, he sold the Lancaster Caramel Company for $1 million so he could focus solely on chocolate.

Although he considered building his factory in Baltimore, Maryland, New York, and New Jersey, he ultimately settled on his hometown of Derry Township, Pennsylvania.

Milton Hershey wanted to create a "model town" for his employees, so he built one, complete with affordable public transportation and a strong public school system.

During the Great Depression, Hershey even launched a construction campaign (called the "Great Building Campaign") to support the local economy. He hired residents to construct major buildings such as the Hotel Hershey and the Hershey Theatre.

Hershey and his wife, Catherine, opened the institution later known as the Milton Hershey School in 1909. It originally served orphaned boys but it's now a cost-free, private co-ed school for students in pre-kindergarten through 12th grade.

 Then, in 1935, he established the M.S. Hershey Foundation to offer educational and cultural opportunities to Derry Township residents.

Today, the Foundation operates the Hershey Theatre and the Hershey Gardens. It also supported the creation of the Hershey Community Archives and the Hershey Story museum.

According to Mental Floss, when Hershey took his wife to Nice, France, for a winter getaway, he put down a deposit for a return trip on the Titanic. But for some reason they didn't make it onto the doomed vessel, instead they sailed home on a German luxury liner called Amerika.

The Reese's Peanut Butter Cup was invented by a man named Harry Burnett Reese, who, in 1917, took a job on a dairy farm owned by Milton Hershey.

After a few years, he transitioned from the farm to Hershey's chocolate factory, where he was inspired to craft his own chocolates.

By 1928, he came up with his most famous innovation ― the peanut butter cup, also called the "penny cup" because of its original price. During World War II, economic hardship forced Reese to exclusively make peanut butter cups.

After Reese unexpectedly died of a heart attack in the 1950s, his sons sold the business to the Hershey Chocolate Company.

During World War II, Hershey's manufactured chocolate products called Ration D bars and Tropical Bars. According to the National Museum of American History, these bars were created to withstand extreme temperatures and give troops energy.

Hershey Kisses have been around since 1907, and in the beginning, they were hand-wrapped. Demand for the chocolate drops is so high that Hershey now produces about 60 million of them each day.

In addition to the standard milk and dark chocolate iterations, there are also fancy varieties ranging from super-sized Deluxe Kisses to birthday cake-flavored candies.

Read More: THEN AND NOW: What 12 candy bars looked like when they were first released

Milton Hershey originally built Hersheypark as a place for his employees to relax and enjoy leisure activities such as picnicking and boating. Over the years, more and more attractions were added, from a fun house to a wooden roller coaster, until it became the full-fledged amusement park we know today.

Located at the Hotel Hershey, the spa offers luxurious, chocolate-based skin treatments and facials.

From 1944 to 1981, Hershey's operated an air park adjacent to its amusement park where people could store planes, take flight lessons, and experience aerial sightseeing tours.

The most famous Hershey's Chocolate World location is the shop in New York City's Times Square, but there are also emporiums in Las Vegas, Niagara Falls, and Singapore.

People around the world enjoy Hershey's products and the company has various international locations in countries such as Canada, Brazil, and China.

If you're wondering where Hershey's develops new products, the company actually has a secret chocolate lab. It's so secure that most employees haven't set foot in it, according to Penn Live.

Some recent innovations include a hybrid cookie/candy bar called Hershey's Cookie Layer Crunch and Hershey's Gold, a caramel creme bar filled with peanuts and pretzels.

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