October 22, 2026
5:00 PM“Urban & The Chocolate King” Explores the Remarkable Partnership Between Renowned Architect C. Emlen Urban and Chocolate Magnate Milton S. Hershey
Community Is Invited to Free Presentation at Hershey Theatre on Thursday, Oct. 22
Most people know Milton S. Hershey as the man who built a chocolate empire and the Pennsylvania town that bears his name.
Far fewer know the Lancaster architect who helped him build it.
In his new book, Urban & The Chocolate King, Lancaster architect, author and architectural historian Gregory J. Scott brings to life the remarkable relationship between two very different men: Milton S. Hershey, the visionary entrepreneur who imagined a model industrial town among the cornfields of Derry Township, and C. Emlen Urban, the Lancaster architect who helped transform that vision into an enduring architectural legacy.
Their story begins not in Hershey, but in Lancaster.
Before returning to Derry Township to build his chocolate factory and the community that would grow around it, Hershey spent nearly two decades in Lancaster building the candy business that would make his fortune. During those same years, Urban was establishing himself as one of Lancaster’s most accomplished architects. Their paths eventually converged, beginning a professional relationship that would span decades and leave a lasting imprint on Hershey.
“People know Milton Hershey for chocolate,” Scott says. “But the more I researched his story, the more I realized that architecture was an essential part of his vision. Hershey dreamed on an enormous scale, and C. Emlen Urban helped turn many of those dreams into brick, stone and mortar.”
Hershey was the dreamer, entrepreneur and risk-taker. Urban was the trained architect with the ability to translate ambitious ideas into buildings. Together, their complementary talents helped shape a community unlike any other.
“Milton Hershey could have hired architects from Philadelphia, New York or anywhere else,” Scott says. “Again and again, he turned to C. Emlen Urban in Lancaster. I wanted to understand why, and what these two remarkable men accomplished together.”
After nearly four years of research, Scott discovered a story that went well beyond buildings. He describes the relationship, in an unexpected sense, as “a love story”—not a romantic one, but one rooted in a shared love of building, community, beauty and possibility.
Urban & The Chocolate King traces the buildings and ambitions that helped transform Hershey from farmland into one of America’s most distinctive company towns. The 201-page book is lavishly illustrated with historic photographs, architectural drawings and contemporary photography of Urban’s work in Hershey—from schools, homes and commercial buildings to some of the community’s most ambitious landmarks.
The book also explores projects that never left the drawing board, offering a fascinating glimpse into just how expansive Hershey’s plans for his community once were. Together, the completed and unrealized designs reveal the scale of Hershey’s vision and the important role Urban played in bringing that vision to life.
The book represents a collaboration of its own. Scott worked closely with photographer Matthew Tennison, whose contemporary architectural photography documents Urban’s surviving Hershey buildings, and graphic designer Jason James, who helped shape nearly four years of research, historic material and photography into the finished volume.
While its richly visual story will appeal to architects and historians, Urban & The Chocolate King is also for anyone who has driven through Hershey and wondered how this extraordinary place came to be.
For Scott, the publication continues a larger mission: introducing everyday readers to the architecture—and the architects—hiding in plain sight around them.
“Buildings tell stories,” Scott says. “Sometimes we simply need someone to point them out.”
With Urban & The Chocolate King, Scott hopes readers will look at both Hershey and Lancaster a little differently.
“The world remembers Hershey for the town he built. Perhaps it should also remember Lancaster for the architect who helped him build it,” Scott says.
OCT. 22 FREE COMMUNITY PRESENTATION AND BOOK LAUNCH
The community is invited to celebrate the launch of Urban & The Chocolate King at Hershey Theatre on Thursday, Oct. 22, from 5–6 p.m. Scott will give an illustrated presentation exploring his research and the remarkable architectural partnership between Urban and Hershey. The event is free and open to the public. “Hershey Theatre—and the rest of the historic Community Building—is one of Urban’s premier designs, so there’s no better place to launch this book,” Scott says.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Gregory J. Scott is a Lancaster architect, author, architectural historian and longtime newspaper columnist whose work has introduced generations of readers to the architecture and architectural history of Lancaster County. His previous books and public programs have explored the work and legacy of C. Emlen Urban, one of Lancaster’s most prolific and influential architects.
HOW TO PURCHASE
Order online: Urban & The Chocolate King — Egg and Dart Books
-ALL INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE.
October 22, 2026
Tickets not available at this time.