McDonald's System, Inc. was renamed McDonald's Corporation in 1960.
The change reflected the growing importance of Ray Kroc's franchising business after he began working with the McDonald brothers' restaurant in 1954. Kroc incorporated McDonald's System, Inc. in 1955, the same year he opened a McDonald's restaurant in Des Plaines, Illinois.
By 1960, the company was expanding beyond its original California base and needed a corporate identity suited to a national chain. The name McDonald's Corporation became the enduring corporate name, while individual restaurants continued operating under the McDonald's brand.
This date is sometimes confused with 1955, when Kroc opened his first McDonald's restaurant, or 1961, when Kroc acquired the brothers' business rights. Those were major milestones, but neither was the company's renaming.