History:
At the 1893 Columbian Exposition, a World’s Fair held in Chicago, chocolate-making machinery made in Dresden, Germany, was displayed. Milton S. Hershey, who had made his fortune in caramels, saw the potential for chocolate and installed chocolate machinery in his factory in Lancaster, and produced his first chocolate bars in 1894. Other Americans began mixing in other ingredients to make up new candy bars throughout the end of the 1890’s and the early 1900’s.
It was World War I that really brought attention to the candy bar. The U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps commissioned various American chocolate manufacturers to provide 20 to 40 pound blocks of chocolate to be shipped to quartermaster bases. The blocks were chopped up into smaller pieces and distributed to dough boys in Europe. Eventually the task of making smaller pieces was turned back to the manufacturers. As a result, from that time on and through the 1920s, candy bar manufacturers became established throughout the United States, and as many as 40,000 different candy bars appeared on the scene. The Twenties became the decade that among other things was the high point of the candy bar industry.
The original candy bar industry had its start on the eastern seaboard in such cities as Philadelphia, Boston, and New York. The industry soon spread to the Midwest, because shipping and raw materials such as sugar, corn syrup, and milk were easily available. Chicago became the seat of the candy bar industry and is even today an important base.
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