Making meals happy (Des Plaines, Ill.)

In 1940, Dick and Mac McDonald opened their McDonald's Bar-B-Que restaurant in San Bernardino, Calif., and in 1949 they replaced the potato chips on their menu with French fries. But fast-food history wouldn't be made until salesman Ray Kroc visited the place in 1954. A year later, Kroc opened his first McDonald's franchise, in Des Plaines, Ill., in a red-and-white-tiled building with bright yellow arches. Ten years later, there were more than 700 McDonald's restaurants in the United States.
The original "Golden Arches" restaurant is gone, but you can visit the McDonald's #1 Store Museum, a re-creation of the genuine article, located at 400 N. Lee St. in Des Plaines, Ill. You can't eat there, but there's a working McDonald's across the street.