McDonald’s adopted the corporate name McDonald’s Corporation in 1960.
The change reflected the company’s development from a restaurant operation associated with the McDonald brothers into a growing franchised business led by Ray Kroc. Kroc had opened the first restaurant under his franchising organization in Des Plaines, Illinois, in 1955.
The corporate-name change occurred during a period of rapid expansion. McDonald’s was adding restaurants, standardizing operations, and building a recognizable national identity around its arches, red-and-yellow colors, and tightly controlled menu.
This fact is sometimes confused with the date of the first McDonald’s franchise or the date the company went public. Those are separate milestones. The corporate name was adopted in 1960, while McDonald’s later became a publicly traded company in 1965.