Milton S. Hershey established HE&R in 1927 to distinguish and separate his chocolate manufacturing company from his other business ventures.

[2] In 1903, Hershey began purchasing land in Derry Township, Pennsylvania, not far from the family homestead he owned, to create a company town for his proposed chocolate factory.

[4] After the factory was completed and put in operation in 1904, the Hershey Improvement Company turned toward building the town, which included homes, stores and parks.

Hershey Park was opened on May 30, 1906, with a dance hall pavilion, band shell for shows, tennis courts and a baseball field with a grand stand available for sporting events.

Hershey was forced to sign a promissory note from National City Bank to keep the chocolate company in business.

[7] During that time period, DeCamp prevented substantial improvements to the park or the town, as it was considered too costly an investment.

[14] On December 20, Hershey Chocolate Company filed notice to the Dauphin County prothonotary's office and the Secretary of the Commonwealth's office that they were no longer connected in the operation of various companies including Hersheypark and Hershey Laundry.

[16] The new name was found to be confusing, so Herco began doing business as Hershey Entertainment & Resort Co. in 1980.

[18] Between 1980 and 1987, HE&R began expanding their presence to hotels in the Pocono Mountains, Philadelphia and Corpus Christi, Texas, as well as purchasing Lake Compounce in Bristol and Southington, Connecticut.

However, economic and political circumstances caused the Philadelphia and Corpus Christi hotels to struggle substantially.

This caused HE&R to experience severe financial difficulties, leading to the promotion of J. Bruce McKinney as CEO of the company.

On January 1, 2013, William F. Simpson Jr. replaced Kleisner as the CEO of Hershey Entertainment and Resorts.