Today marks the 75th anniversary of the McDonald’s restaurant chain, which was founded in 1940 as a Southern California barbecue joint and has since expanded to more than 35,000 locations across the globe. Here are some highlights from the company’s history:
- 1939: Nation’s cattle don’t know what’s about to hit them
- 1940: Brothers Richard and Maurice McDonald open their original location in San Bernadino; first grill cook stares at paycheck in utter disbelief
- 1948: While examining the restaurant’s monthly ledger, Maurice asks Richard just how important the purest, freshest ingredients are to the business
- 1949: Original stockpile of ground beef runs out
- 1952: Diners form slightest suspicion that food might be toxic for human body
- 1963: “Ronald McDonald” narrowly beats out “Ground Beef Clown” as the official name of McDonald’s corporate mascot
- 1971: Grimace is introduced, originally intended as way for CEO Ray Kroc to externalize his emotional distress
- 1979: “Your Children Are Ours Now” campaign launched for unveiling of the Happy Meal
- 1981: Eight-year-old Christopher Jenkins becomes first child to tell stepmother that taking him to McDonald’s isn’t going make him love her
- 1990: Restaurant on Moscow’s Red Square built brick-by-brick by former president Ronald Reagan
- 1996: Visibly distraught adult woman Debbie Howard shoves her way past dozens of customers to purchase Happy Meal containing Teenie Beanies
- 2003: McDonald’s crosses rubicon from being an occasional treat to a grim financial necessity in the American household