Current Conditions
67°F - CLEAR
(39) (28) (23) (19) (6) (5) (2)The Hershey Story: The Museum On Chocolate Avenue, which opened its doors Friday, tells the story of chocolate magnate Milton S. Hershey. It begins with his early days in Lancaster to the building of his famous chocolate factory in Derry Township, Dauphin County, and includes the town that grew up around that factory and continues to thrive to this day.
Located at 111 W. Chocolate Ave., the $23.5 million museum features historic candy-making artifacts, personal items belonging to Hershey, interactive displays, films, working chocolate-making equipment, hands-on candy-making classes, taste-testing of six warm, chocolatey liquids made solely from beans and light dining at the Cafe Zooka — named for the penny-candy Zooka Sticks made by Hershey in his Lancaster plant.
"We're thrilled to unveil this new facility," said Amy Bischof, associate director of the Milton S. Hershey Foundation, which owns the museum.
The museum's main lobby, with its bare steel support beams and high, arched roof, is reminiscent of the famous 1893 Columbia Exposition in Chicago.
"Milton Hershey bought his first chocolate-making equipment there," Bischof said. "It was a time of great creativity and invention, and those are things that really speak to his personality."
The newly purchased equipment was installed in his Lancaster factory in 1894. There, he "began experimenting with milk chocolate."
In fact, the first stop on the second floor, the main exhibit area, is dedicated to Hershey's years in Lancaster. Here visitors may read about Hershey's Lancaster factory. They may stand at a replica of the desk Hershey used at the time, pick up the receiver of an old-fashioned candlestick style phone, punch a button and eavesdrop on Hershey's conversations with friends and family about his life and business.
Hershey, who was born in Derry Township near the present-day town that bears his name, was apprenticed at age 14 to Lancaster candy maker Joseph Royer. In 1876 he left to start his own business in Philadelphia, and another in New York City, where he made, not chocolate, but lozenges, caramels and peppermints.
Both businesses failed, and after some more traveling, during which times he picked up more candy-making skills, he returned to Lancaster in 1886 and started the Lancaster Caramel Co. Here he began working with milk chocolate and made various novelty items.
"This is the most extravagant period of his life," Bischof said. "He began traveling the world at this time."
Hershey sold his Lancaster plant, which had more than 1,000 employees, for $1 million in 1900, although he continued to run it until 1909.
In 1905 he opened his factory in what was then called Derry Church, but would later bear his name.
The rest, as they say, is history.
In other parts of the museum, visitors can see a functioning Hershey Kiss machine that was in operation until last year, view a film on chocolate making, learn about Hershey's life and his many philanthropic activities, including the Milton S. Hershey School, and take a virtual tour, both inside and out, of 12 landmark buildings around the town via an interactive map table. These include the Hershey Hotel, the Hershey Theater and Hershey's birthplace.
There also is a chocolate laboratory, where children and adults can get hands-on candy-making experience.
Bischof said the Milton S. Hershey Foundation is "thrilled" with the new location. Replacing the former Hershey Museum next to the old Hersheypark Arena, the new structure — the first "legacy building" to be erected in Hershey in 75 years — makes both the museum and the foundation more accessible.
"We're now in the heart of the community," Bischof said. "People can walk here."
Admission to the museum is $10 for adults, $9 for seniors and $7.50 for children. Classes in the chocolate lab are $10 if bought separately. Admission to the museum and the lab together is $15.
Children under 3 are free.
E-mail: lalexander@lnpnews.com
