Which city was home to the first Dairy Queen restaurant, opened in 1940?

The first Dairy Queen restaurant opened in Joliet, Illinois, in 1940.

Dairy Queen’s origins trace to soft-serve ice cream developed by John Fremont McCullough and his son Alex. After testing the product, the McCulloughs worked with Sherb Noble, who sold it at his ice-cream store in Kankakee, Illinois. The first dedicated Dairy Queen location followed in Joliet.

The Joliet site is historically important because it helped establish the Dairy Queen format before the brand expanded through franchising. Dairy Queen became known for soft-serve products, including cones, sundaes and the Blizzard dessert introduced much later.

A common mix-up is confusing the first Dairy Queen restaurant with the first product test. Soft serve was tested in Kankakee, while the first Dairy Queen store opened in Joliet. The chain is now part of International Dairy Queen, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway.