In what city was the first McDonald's restaurant opened?

The first McDonald’s restaurant was opened in San Bernardino, California. Brothers Richard and Maurice McDonald opened the restaurant at 1398 North E Street on May 15, 1940, after moving their earlier drive-in operation from nearby Monrovia Airport.

The original business was a drive-in barbecue restaurant, but the brothers discovered that hamburgers generated most of their sales. They simplified the menu and redesigned the operation around quick, standardized food preparation. This approach eventually became the foundation of the modern fast-food model.

San Bernardino is sometimes confused with Des Plaines, Illinois, because Ray Kroc opened a famous McDonald’s there in 1955. That restaurant was the ninth overall and represented Kroc’s corporate expansion of the brand, not its original beginning. The San Bernardino site was later demolished, while a replica and historical museum commemorated its role in McDonald’s history.