WeekInTime Issue 102: Mickey D's

The McDonald Brothers open the first McDonald's restaurant in 1940

Hey WeekInTime readers,

Hope you all had a great week! As you all know, we officially launched our premium subscription last week, meaning that some of our posts will now only be available to paid readers.

This week, we kick off our first premium offering with an article about the founding of the original McDonald’s restaurant. Interested in reading it? You can access the article by clicking the “Upgrade to Paid” button below. We hope you decide to support our work!

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History Bites

This week in time…

🚀 NASA launches the Skylab space station in 1973

👑 Anne Boleyn, the famous second wife of King Henry VIII, is executed in 1536

🏥 The Asylum for the Relief of Persons Deprived of the Use of Their Reason, the first private mental health hospital in the U.S., opens in 1817

🛢️ The Supreme Court declares Standard Oil, owner of nearly all oil production in the U.S., to be an "unreasonable" monopoly and orders the company to be broken up in 1911

🦬 William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody opens the Buffalo Bill's Wild West show in Nebraska in 1883

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Mickey D’s

You can’t go wrong with a brother-owned business. After a failed attempt to make it in the movie business, a scrappy duo set up shop in San Bernardino, quickly becoming a favorite hangout for local teenagers. But they never could have predicted that their name would become synonymous with American culture. This week in time, Richard and Maurice McDonald established the world’s first McDonald's restaurant.

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The Paramount Pictures studio gate

The McDonald Brothers

Born into a poor family of Irish immigrants, Maurice (“Mac”) and Richard (“Dick”) McDonald were determined to earn a good living. Shortly after graduating from high school, the two brothers moved out to California in search of new opportunities. 

And of course, no move to California is complete without a failed attempt to break into the movie business. The brothers did some behind-the-scenes grunt work for Hollywood films, saving enough money to buy their own movie theater. But the brothers soon realized that 1930 was not a good time to start their own business, and they closed the theater after seven years.

By the time the brothers bought their movie theater, drive-in restaurants had sprung up around most of the United States. As architect Alan Hess told Smithsonian Magazine, “Restaurant owners began thinking, 'My customers are coming by car...why don't I just have them drive up to the side of the building and I'll hand them their goods through the window.’” How innovative! In 1937, the brothers came to the same conclusion and set up their own small drive-in hot dog stand. The idea was there but the details were off—it wasn't until their next venture when the brothers really started raking it in.