McDonald's opened the Des Plaines, Illinois, restaurant that introduced its modern franchising era in 1955.
Ray Kroc opened the location on April 15, 1955, as a franchised McDonald's restaurant. It is commonly identified as the ninth McDonald's restaurant and became a model for the company's rapid expansion under Kroc's leadership.
The restaurant used the recognizable red-and-white building style and Golden Arches associated with the growing chain. Its opening helped turn the McDonald brothers' efficient restaurant format into a standardized national business identity.
The date is sometimes confused with 1940, when Richard and Maurice McDonald opened their first restaurant in San Bernardino, or 1948, when they introduced the Speedee Service System. The Des Plaines opening marked Kroc's expansion phase, not the beginning of the brothers' original restaurant.