Where did Ray Kroc open the first McDonald’s restaurant operated under his franchise system?

Ray Kroc opened the first McDonald’s restaurant operated under his franchise system in Des Plaines, Illinois.

The restaurant opened in 1955 at 400 North Lee Street. Kroc, a milkshake-mixer salesman, became impressed by the efficient restaurant operated by brothers Richard and Maurice McDonald in San Bernardino, California. He obtained the rights to franchise their system and opened the Des Plaines location.

The McDonald brothers had already created the Speedee Service System and had franchised restaurants before Kroc’s involvement. Consequently, the Des Plaines restaurant was not the first McDonald’s restaurant and was not the origin of the brand’s original operating idea.

The Des Plaines building later became a museum and has been reconstructed as a replica. McDonald’s corporate headquarters eventually moved to nearby Oak Brook, Illinois, and later to Chicago, but those locations are separate from the site of Kroc’s first franchise restaurant.