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.