<P> In late 1953, with only a rendering of Meston's design in hand, the brothers began seeking franchisees . Their first franchisee was Neil Fox, a distributor for General Petroleum Corporation . Fox's stand, the first with Meston's golden arches design, opened in May 1953 at Central Avenue and Indian School Road in Phoenix, Arizona . Their second franchisee was the team of Fox's brother - in - law Roger Williams and Burdette "Bud" Landon, both of whom also worked for General Petroleum . Williams and Landon opened their stand on August 18, 1953 at 10207 Lakewood Boulevard in Downey, California . The Downey stand has the distinction of being the oldest surviving McDonald's restaurant . The Downey stand was never required to comply with the McDonald's Corporation's remodeling and updating requests over the years because it was franchised not by the McDonald's Corporation, but by the McDonald brothers themselves to Williams and Landon . </P> <P> In 1954, Ray Kroc, a seller of Prince Castle brand Multimixer milkshake machines, learned that the McDonald brothers were using eight of his machines in their San Bernardino restaurant . His curiosity was piqued, and he went to take a look at the restaurant . He was joined by good friend Charles Lewis who had suggested to Kroc several improvements to the McDonald's burger recipe . </P> <P> Believing the McDonald's formula was a ticket to success, Kroc suggested they franchise their restaurants throughout the country . The brothers were skeptical, however, that the self - service approach could succeed in colder, rainier climates; furthermore, their thriving business in San Bernardino, and franchises already operating or planned, made them reluctant to risk a national venture . Kroc offered to take the major responsibility for setting up the new franchises elsewhere . He returned to his home outside of Chicago with rights to set up McDonald's restaurants throughout the country, except in a handful of territories in California and Arizona already licensed by the McDonald brothers . The brothers were to receive one - half of one percent of gross sales . Kroc's first McDonald's restaurant opened on April 15, 1955, at 400 North Lee Street in Des Plaines, Illinois, near Chicago . The Des Plaines interior and exterior was painted by master painter Eugene Wright, who owned Wright's Decorating Service . Eugene was asked to come up with a color scheme and he chose yellow and white, with dark brown and red being secondary trim colors . Those colors would go on to become the colors of all McDonald's franchises . (Recognizing its historic and nostalgic value, in 1990 the McDonald's Corporation acquired the stand and rehabilitated it to a modern but nearly original condition, and then built an adjacent museum and gift shop to commemorate the site .) </P> <P> Once the Des Plaines restaurant had become operational, Kroc sought franchisees for his McDonald's chain . The first snag came quickly . In 1956 he discovered that the McDonald brothers had licensed the franchise rights for Cook County, Illinois to the Frejlach Ice Cream Company . Kroc was incensed that the McDonalds had not informed him of this arrangement . He purchased the rights back for $25,000, five times what the Frejlacks had originally paid, and pressed forward . McDonald's grew slowly for its first three years . By 1958, there were 34 restaurants . In 1959, however, Kroc opened 68 new restaurants, bringing the total to 102 locations . </P>

When was the first ever mcdonald's opened