Among the thousands who visited the Chicago exposition were Milton Hershey and his cousin Frank Snavely. One exhibit particularly captured Hershey’s imagination; it also changed his life. A German company was showing how chocolate was manufactured, and Hershey was convinced that this was the future of candy-making.

Consequently, he purchased the exhibit’s entire assembly of chocolate-making equipment, had it crated up and shipped back to Lancaster. There, he installed the machinery in the east wing of his caramel factory and began making chocolate.