Derry Church School
Dauphin Co. | Pennsylvania | USA
Watersource: n/a
Derry Church School
Follow Pa 743 east to Pa 422 in Hershey. Turn right onto 422. After passing the chocolate factory, turn left on E. Mansion Road. (this will still be Pa 743 - don't get confused). Drive about 0.2 mles to the school on the left, on the golf course.
Born in Derry Township, Dauphin Co., Pa, Milton S. Hershey (1857-1945, of Hershey Chocolate fame, attended this one-room schoolhouse during the winter of 1863-1864.GPS: 40' 17.51'N, 76' 38.67'W 404'/123 meters Hershey Quadrangle
This school, built in 1844, was the first of seven schools he attended before being apprenticed out to a Lancaster Co. candymaker at the age of 14.
After business failures in New York and Philadelphia, Hersey hit upon success in his third venture, the Lancaster Caramel Co., established in 1886.
The schoolhouse is built of a light grey, almost blue, limestone. The Hershey Chocolate Co. was begun in 1894; and, ground was broken for his new chocolate factory and model town in 1903.
Hershey's home, "High Point", sits on the hill above the schoolhouse. Prior to its restoration in 1961 by Milton Hershey School students, the old schoolhouse was used as the Hershey Country Club caddy house.