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Description
was founded in 1888, selling liniments and patent medicines. In the 1890's Dr. Donnell bought a prize-winning formula for egg dye from Europe and launched the White Rabbit Dye brand. Donnell Manufacturing registered the trademark for White Rabbit Dye in 1894. By 1910, egg sales were so good that Donnell dropped the rest of it's product lines and re-incorporated as the White Rabbit Dye Company. Sales then went beyond the Easter season and White Rabbit was used in cakes, cookies, and drinks. When Leonard Jaeger and his partner Mr. Berg, bought the company in 1934, the Depression was having an effect on White Rabbit as it had all over the country. Determined to survive the times, Mr. Jaeger devised sales displays and ads along with costumed White Rabbit "bunnies" that would appear at numerous events, in pictures, displays and in store promotions. Sales increased in the original office St. Louis, as well as Chicago and New York. Things were looking bright for White Rabbit! The company changed hands in 1976 and again in 1988, with the home office remaining in St. Louis, and the dye being distributed nationwide under the new owners. The traditional coin sized packets, filled with Easter colors and a wire egg dipper, are sold to many grocery, food and drug store chains.