Other namesHB, Harry Reese, Poppy Reese, Mr. American inventor and businessman known for creating the No. 1 selling candy brand in the United States, Reese’s eggs’s Peanut Butter Cups and founding the H. Reese was born on May 24, 1879, on the Frosty Hill Farm, an agricultural and dairy farm located near the Muddy Creek Forks Historic District in York County, Pennsylvania.
At least 20 family members were present during a typical Reese family supper and sometimes more than 40 people were present when friends and relatives were invited to join them. By 1903, Reese was managing the fishing operations of his father-in-law’s cannery business located in Ditchley, Virginia. In 1916, Reese read an employment ad in the York Daily Record by Milton S. Hershey seeking to hire people to manage and operate his numerous dairy farms that were located in the Hershey, Pennsylvania, area. Reese knew he needed high-quality manufacturing equipment in order to boost the potential of his Hummelstown, Pennsylvania candy business. 290,000 by issuing stock in the newly formed company.
Under pressure to support his 10 children — with yet another baby on the way — Reese took a paper mill job in Spring Grove, Pennsylvania, where he worked a second job as a butcher. He also had a third job canning vegetables. In 1921, Reese’s father-in-law purchased a home at 18 E. Areba Avenue in Hershey, Pennsylvania for his son-in-law’s growing family. With his return to Hershey, Reese began working at The Hershey Company factory in the shipping department and was soon promoted to foreman.
