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The Hershey Chocolate Factory and office, Hershey, Pa., circa 1930.
Credit: Courtesy of the Hershey Community Archives
In the early 1900s, Milton Hershey built an empire of chocolate through smart business practices, high quality, and public good will. Using the best machinery in a plant designed for efficiency, Hershey was able to produce high quality chocolate at a low price. One way Hershey kept the price down was by acquiring close to 10,000 acres of Pennsylvania farm land that produced the milk needed for his chocolate, and by buying and operating his own sugar plantations in Cuba. In the early 1940s, Hershey by one industry estimate was producing three-quarters of all the chocolate consumed in the United States.