A Brief History of the Chocolate Candy Bar

Candy has always meant big business in America, but it would take a specific kind of candy to really capture the imagination of sweet tooths everywhere and create a money-making machine. The very first Hershey Bar appeared in 1894 and it heralded a sweeping movement that has never shown signs of slowing down and that has been tinkered and tampered and experimented with in nearly every possible way. Milton Hershey lived the American dream by using nothing more extravagant or innovative than good old-fashioned sugar, milk, and cocoa. That very first Hershey Bar, which has essentially remained unchanged, cost members of the Gilded Age just a few cents; more than penny candy, of course, but the return was worth the investment. The chocolate bar revolution had begun.

Hershey soon discovered the dark side of capitalism however as he almost immediately faced competition in the form of a small drop of chewy chocolate dressed in a wrapper and named after his daughter, Tootsie. The Tootsie Roll became a hit just as quickly as the Hershey Bar thanks to the fact that they were so small they could be carried around inside a pocket or purse. The overnight sensations from Hershey and Lenny Hirschfield had the effect of creating the same kind of rush to quick bucks from imitators that marks the success of any new product in America. Before too long many of the chocolate bars that we are still familiar with today were being bought by the millions.