This product was
developed by Harry Burnett Reese a former dairy employee of Milton Hershey.
H.B. Reese held a variety of jobs before having success in the candy
making business. His concoction consists of a specially made peanut
butter and Hershey's milk chocolate. The product was introduced in the
1920's as peanut butter cups but growing popularity earned them the
name Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. This product became so popular that
a large manufacturing facility was needed and a 100,000 square-foot
facility was built along Chocolate Avenue in Hershey, PA and opened
in August 1957. In 1963, the H.B. Reese Candy Company, Inc. was sold
for $23.5 million to the Hershey Chocolate Company, currently known
as Hershey Foods Corporation, its chocolate-making neighbor. The plant
sized was doubled in the 1970's and there has been growth in brand since
its purchase by the Hershey Foods Corporation. Reese's now makes Reese's
Sticks, Reese's FastBreak, Reese's Pieces, and Reese's NutRageous.
http://www.hersheys.com/products/reese.shtml