Milton Hershey was an American candy maker who, in the 1890s, became one of the first people to mass-produce milk chocolate cheaply enough that ordinary people could afford it. His chocolate bars became a household name across the United States and made him very rich very fast.
Hershey and his wife had no children of their own. In 1909 they founded a school for orphan boys, giving the students free housing, food, clothes, and education. When his wife died, a heartbroken Hershey signed almost everything he owned - including most of the Hershey Chocolate Company - over to the school.
The school is now called the Milton Hershey School and educates over 2,000 kids in need every year. It still owns the controlling share of the company, which means every Hershey bar sold helps pay for students’ education. The town of Hershey, Pennsylvania, also has streetlights shaped like Hershey’s Kisses.
