this post was submitted on 23 Dec 2023
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Interesting note 20th century millionaires tried to tackle societal ills by making various utopia like projects. Hershey tried to make I think 3 cities (USA, Brazil, maybe Cuba) were he tried to control the populace. They all failed except maybe, USA the city is a tourist trap and major hospital. I think Spain had another with a long City, and a more modern example is Dubai with ..... Basically all of Dubai. Or California currently has a project being run by several tech people.
Well I will say Hershey USA has a combination of local farms to feed the populace and generate the products for the factory, a public pond and picnic grounds that also provides water pressure for the city by being a giant lifted open water reservoir, and he funded the arts and built free entertainment for his employees that he paid them to help build.
It was pretty good for the time period and his fund continues to fund one of the best orphanage programs. It pivoting to tourism is the unfortunate result of the USA believing in pretty much only the service economy.
A lot of the other 20th century Uber rich built public stuff mostly to buy positive opinion and get regulators/employees off their back. Hershey is a fully functioning company town still 100 years later. Not a lot of those around. But it certainly has issues cause of course, nothing is perfect or lasts perfect.
I forgot the source but there was a YouTuber that did a deep dive. It boiled down to Hershey being forced to pivot his goals. If I remember correctly he started with strict moral and civil planning and then it got progressively ness strict growing into an actual city.
Oh deeply devout quaker style Catholic, you do everything for the sake of good hard work and labor. Gotta accept a little bit of time period appropriateness.
I am so sorry but I do not understand your comment. If you want an example of being forced to change. Hershey initially wanted the city to be a dry City, that didn't last long.
I'm from the area I know a lot about Hershey. But I meant he was a quaker esque religious descendant, which I know realize might not mean a lot outside of the US, people who were the predominant religious zealouts who founded the USA out of not wanting to be near all the hippies.
Specifically he was a Mennenite which probably means even less, so think Amish if you know that, or deeply devout conservative jew that believes in more suffering as being needed to love God. Interesting group. Even if he was progressive that background doesn't let you get too far away I would think.