This Day in History April 15, 1955

I found this really interesting.  I had no idea that on this date in 1955, that the very first McDonald's opened! Roy Croc was going around the country selling milkshake-making machines.  The McDonald brothers of California were running "fast food" restaurants, and Kroc was impressed.  He offered them a franchise opportunity.  He agreed to open up his own McDonald's and split the profits.  And they were in full support. So Kroc went home, and the first one opened in De Plaines, Illinois.  And on the first date, it made $366.12.  Not bad for back then.  His success was built on offering a limited menu and standardization.  I would say that this giant has continued its success in spite of health concerns and many lawsuits.  It was my daughter's favorite restaurant from the time she was a toddler through preschool and kindergarten.  In fact, there was a joke amongst us that whenever we went somewhere, she would fall asleep in the car but wake up whenever there was a McDonald's!

For more info:
http://famousdaily.com/history/mcdonalds-restaurants-founded.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonald%27s
http://www.burgerbusiness.com/?p=7106

This Day in History September 18, 1886

By AlexiusHoratius [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons

Talk about a scary moment in weather history, but one that claimed no lives!  On this date in 1886, a tornado moved across the Des Plaines river in Illinois, and it hit Joliet, Illinois.  There was a loud roar when that warned the residents about the tornado, and as a result, there were no fatalities.  The tornado did destroy 20 homes, 10 barns, two factories, and a grain elevator.  There were twenty people who were injured.  And the most unusual thing was that a bridge (which remained intact) moved two blocks!  Can you imagine?

For more information, please check out:

http://www.examiner.com/article/weather-history-september-18-record-temps-storms-snow-wind-tropics-1

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/ilx/trivia/septriv.php