page_title: Jell-O
section_title: Early history
hierarchical_section_title: Jell-O / History / Early history
caption_attribution_description: English: Original Jell-O Factory Historic Marker, Le Roy NY, August 2010
context_page_description: Jell-O is a variety of gelatin desserts, puddings, and no-bake cream pies. The original Jell-O gelatin dessert is the signature of the brand. Jell-O is a registered trademark of Kraft Heinz and is based in Chicago, Illinois.
  The original gelatin dessert began in Le Roy, New York, in 1897 after Pearle Bixby Wait and wife May trademarked the name for a product made from strawberry, raspberry, orange, or lemon flavoring added to sugar and granulated gelatin, which had just been patented in 1845 in its powdered form for the masses. The dessert was especially popular in the 1930s and 1950s.
context_section_description: Gelatin, a protein produced from collagen extracted from boiled bones, connective tissues, and other animal products, has been a component of food, particularly desserts, since the 15th century.
  Gelatin was popularized in New York in the Victorian era with spectacular and complex jelly moulds. Gelatin was sold in sheets and had to be purified, which was time-consuming.  Gelatin desserts were the province of royalty and the relatively well-to-do. In 1845, a patent for powdered gelatin was obtained by industrialist Peter Cooper, who built the first American steam-powered locomotive, the Tom Thumb.  This powdered gelatin was easy to manufacture and easier to use in cooking.
  In 1897, in LeRoy, New York, carpenter and cough syrup manufacturer Pearle Bixby Wait trademarked a gelatin dessert called Jell-O. His wife May and he added strawberry, raspberry, orange, and lemon flavoring to granulated gelatin and sugar. In 1899, Jell-O was sold to Orator Francis Woodward (1856–1906), whose Genesee Pure Food Company produced the successful Grain-O health drink. Part of the legal agreement between Woodward and Wait dealt with the similar Jell-O name.
caption: Original Jell-O Factory Historic Marker
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