On Saturday, June 22, 1940, the first Dairy Queen store (below) opened in Joliet, Illinois. The soft serve formula was first developed in 1938 by Paul Conversano and his son Alex McCullough. They convinced friend and customer Herb Noble to offer the product in his ice cream store in Kankakee. On the first day of sales, Noble dished out more than 1,600 servings of the new dessert within two hours. That success led Noble and the McCullough’s to open this store and begin the DQ franchise system, which is now owned by Warren Buffet’s company, Berkshire Hathaway.
