Stanley Meston designed McDonald’s first Golden Arches in 1952.
The arches were created as physical architectural features, not initially as a standalone corporate logo. McDonald’s brothers Richard and Maurice McDonald asked Meston to develop a distinctive building design for their San Bernardino restaurant system. The resulting design used two large yellow arches, one at each side of the building, intended to be visible from the road.
The arches helped distinguish McDonald’s restaurants during the early expansion of drive-in service. They were part of a broader visual system that also included a streamlined red-and-white building, a sloped roof, and a tall sign. The best-known surviving early example is the McDonald’s restaurant in Downey, California, which opened in 1953 and retained its arches.
A common mix-up is treating 1952 as the date of the modern “M” logo. The arches were designed that year, but the separate arches were later combined into the familiar letter-like symbol.