This Day in History

April 14, 1955: First McDonald's opened by Ray Kroc. On this day in 1955, American fast-food pioneer Ray Kroc opened the first McDonald's franchise in Des Plaines, Illinois, launching an enterprise that would eventually become the world's largest fast-food chain.

The first McDonald's restaurant opened by Ray Kroc, now a museum in Des Plaines, Illinois, U.S.Sandy Felsenthal/Corbis

Comment: And we owe everything we are today to that lowly 15 cent hamburger...