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Pevely Dairy, founded in the 1880s, was one of four large dairies that evolved from a group of small dairies located in St. Louis at the turn of the twentieth century. Delivery of milk was made by horse-drawn wagons. Milk was delivered in bottles with cream on top and a round piece of cardboard as a stopper. Horses were so well trained on their route that they knew when to stop for a delivery.
As a publicity stunt the dairy purchased two trained zebras named Hans and Tanta from a circus and had them pull a dairy wagon. The museum has an original horse-drawn milk wagon that was originally owned by Pevely Dairy.
This zebra-drawn Pevely Milk Wagon delivered milk through the streets of St. Louis in the 1930’s. The zebras were from Southwest Africa and taken to the Hagenback Circus at Altona-Stellingen in Germany for training. They were brought to the Pevely Dairy Co. in St. Louis in July 1929, at which time they were three-years-old. Hans and Tanta proved to be exceedingly gentle and well-trained. The zebras delivered milk in St. Louis for years. So, you could say, they really earned their stripes!
Here is a video of a zebra-drawn milk delivery.
