Side note: The mysterious numeric combination, 10 – 2 – 4, on the label is there to remind people to have a Dr. Pepper at those times of the day to perk up, or “Drink a bite to eat at 10, 2, and 4.”
Dr. Pepper was first sold over the counter at the drug store in Waco in 1885. I waas first seen outside Texas at the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis (The Louisiana Purchase Exposition), which also debut’ed new foods that later became American culinary (?) icons: Puffed wheat, peanut butter, iced tea, cotton candy, the snow cone, the ice cream cone, the hamburger (dubious claim), and the hot dog (dubious claim). Like Dr. Pepper, many of these foods were regional favorites, but there is no doubt that these foods became extremely popular nationwide after the 1904 exposition.
The Dr. Pepper Museum
The 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair Exposition