If you’ve been in south-central Pennsylvania long enough, you know that the name Wilbur Chocolate is synonymous with Lititz. As “America’s coolest small town,” the thriving town of Lititz boasts a vibrant downtown, full of unique shops, restaurants, and buildings like the former Wilbur Chocolate Co. factory to give the town its charm. Fresh changes are happening in Lititz, the most recent being the revitalization of the former Wilbur Chocolate factory being transformed into “The Wilbur Hotel, Lititz.” 

When you enter The Wilbur Hotel, filled with the smell of chocolate, it is easy to feel a part of it’s storied past. Through company mergers and building purchases, recessions and wars, one thing remained constant: for over 100 years chocolate was produced in this building known as The Wilbur Chocolate Factory. Yet times and needs change, and the factory design that made sense in the early 1900s was outmoded and inefficient by the early 2000s. As was inevitable, in 2016 production stopped and the buildings went up for sale. The question became how to take the historic buildings on the campus and transform them for modern use, all while staying true to its roots. Welcome to the realization of the vision that emerged. The Wilbur Hotel is a place to stay, to dine, to immerse yourself in the life of “America’s coolest small town.”