It’s hard to imagine a world without the Blizzard. Honestly, that thick, gravity-defying soft serve is basically a cultural landmark at this point. But long before the red spoon and the franchise empire, there was just a single storefront in a quiet Illinois town. If you’ve ever wondered where was dairy queen started, the answer isn't a boardroom in a skyscraper. It was a humble building at 501 North Chicago Street in Joliet, Illinois.
It opened on June 22, 1940.
The air was probably thick with that Midwestern summer heat, the kind that makes your shirt stick to your back and makes cold dairy feel like a miracle. But the story didn't actually begin in 1940. That's just when the doors opened. The "soul" of Dairy Queen—the soft serve formula itself—was born two years earlier in an entirely different spot.
The 1938 Secret Experiment
Most people think a business starts when the sign goes up. They’re wrong.
John Fremont "Grandpa" McCullough and his son, Alex, were the brains behind the operation. They weren't even ice cream men by trade, really; they were into the mix business in Green River, Illinois. They had this radical theory that ice cream actually tasted better when it wasn't frozen solid. Think about it. When ice cream is rock hard, your taste buds are partially numbed by the cold. By keeping the butterfat at a warmer temperature—about $23^\circ F$ ($-5^\circ C$) instead of the standard $0^\circ F$ ($-18^\circ C$)—the flavor profile explodes.
They needed a "guinea pig" to test this theory.
They went to a friend and customer named Sherwood Noble, who ran a shop in Kankakee, Illinois. On August 4, 1938, they held an "all you can eat" soft-serve trial. They charged ten cents. In just two hours, they served over 1,600 people. It was absolute chaos. People were lined up down the block for a product that didn't even have a name yet. That frantic two-hour window in Kankakee proved that the McCulloughs weren't just crazy—they were onto a goldmine.
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Joliet: The Official Ground Zero
So, why Joliet? After the success in Kankakee, they needed a permanent home. They teamed up with Noble and found the spot on Chicago Street.
When you look at the old photos of that first location, it’s tiny. It’s a brick building with big glass windows and a simple neon sign. It wasn't the "Grill & Chill" we know today. There were no chicken strips. No fries. No burgers. Just the "Queen of Dairy." That's where the name came from—McCullough believed his soft serve was the "queen" of the dairy industry.
The business model was risky.
At the time, the technology to keep the mix at that perfect, semi-frozen consistency didn't really exist for commercial use. They had to develop a specific continuous freezer. Harry Oltz of Hammond, Indiana, eventually patented the machine that made it possible. Without Oltz’s hardware, the McCulloughs’ software—the recipe—was just a runny mess. This partnership is what truly allowed the Joliet location to thrive. It wasn't just a shop; it was a prototype.
World War II and the Expansion Stall
You’d think after Joliet, they would have popped up everywhere. They didn't.
Timing is everything in business, and their timing was, frankly, terrible. World War II hit, and the United States entered the fray in 1941. Sugar was rationed. Dairy was diverted. Metal for new freezing machines was being used for tanks and planes. The "Queen" had to wait. By the end of the war, there were still fewer than ten Dairy Queens in existence.
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Then 1947 happened.
The post-war boom was like pouring gasoline on a fire. Families were moving to the suburbs. They had cars. They had disposable income. They wanted treats. The number of stores jumped from 100 in 1947 to over 1,400 by 1950. It’s one of the most aggressive expansions in American fast-food history. And it all traces back to that one tiny brick building in Joliet.
Why the First Location is Gone
If you go to 501 North Chicago Street today, don’t expect to order a cone.
The building is still there, but it’s not a Dairy Queen. It’s actually a designated historic landmark, but it has lived many lives since 1940. It’s been a variety of businesses. There’s a plaque, though. It stands as a reminder that the multi-billion dollar entity owned by Berkshire Hathaway (Warren Buffett’s company) started with a father-son duo who just thought ice cream was too cold.
Evolution of the Menu: Beyond the Cone
The Joliet store was a purist's dream. But the brand couldn't stay that way forever.
- The Dilly Bar: This didn't show up until 1955. Legend has it a franchise owner in Moorhead, Minnesota, put a dollop of soft serve on a stick and dipped it in chocolate. When he showed it to his colleagues, someone said, "That's a dilly!"
- The Blizzard: This is the big one. It didn't arrive until 1985. It was inspired by a rival shop called Ted Drewes in St. Louis, which served "concrete" shakes. DQ took the idea, mechanized it, and sold 100 million of them in the first year.
- Hot Food: The "Brazier" concept was introduced in the late 50s to keep sales up during the winter months. Before that, many DQs actually closed during the winter because nobody wanted an ice cream cone in a blizzard (the weather, not the drink).
Common Misconceptions About the Origin
A lot of people think Dairy Queen started in Minneapolis because that’s where the headquarters (International Dairy Queen, Inc.) is located.
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Nope.
The corporate move happened much later as the company centralized its operations. Others confuse it with Carvel, which also claims a stake in the soft-serve game. While Tom Carvel did start selling softened ice cream in New York around 1934 (after his truck broke down and the ice cream started melting), the McCulloughs were the ones who perfected the formula and the franchise system that we recognize today.
Another weird myth? That the soft serve is "fake" or "non-dairy."
Legally, according to the FDA, DQ’s soft serve is actually "reduced-fat ice cream." To be called "ice cream," a product needs at least 10% butterfat. DQ usually sits around 5%. It’s still dairy; it’s just not technically ice cream by the strictest government definitions. The McCulloughs knew this—they specifically designed it that way for the texture.
The Legacy of the Joliet Model
What happened in Joliet changed how we eat. It wasn't just about the sugar. It was the franchise system.
The McCulloughs didn't want to run a thousand stores. They wanted to sell the mix and the machines. They sold "territory rights." This allowed local entrepreneurs to own a piece of the pie while maintaining the brand's consistency. It was the precursor to the modern franchising world. When you walk into a DQ in Texas or a DQ in Thailand, you expect that curl on top of the cone to look exactly the same. That obsession with a uniform experience started with Sherwood Noble in Joliet.
What You Should Do Next
If you’re a fan of culinary history or just a fan of soft serve, there are a few ways to experience this legacy today.
- Visit the Joliet Site: Drive by 501 North Chicago Street. You can't eat there, but seeing the scale of the original building puts the brand's growth into perspective. It's tiny.
- Check out the Moorhead, Minnesota DQ: This is one of the oldest operating "contract" stores. It doesn't follow the standard corporate menu and still makes unique items like the "Monkey Tail" (a chocolate-covered banana). It’s a time capsule.
- Look for the "Brazier" Signs: Most modern stores have been renovated to the "Grill & Chill" look. If you find an old-school "Brazier" sign, you’re looking at a piece of 1950s marketing history that is slowly disappearing.
The story of where was dairy queen started is a reminder that big things almost always start small. It took a father, a son, a guy with a patent for a freezer, and a shop owner in a blue-collar town to change the dessert industry forever. Next time you're holding a Blizzard upside down, remember that it all traces back to a frantic two-hour trial in 1938 and a little brick building in Joliet two years later.