The Very First Dairy Queen / Where Soft Serve Ice Cream Began

0:04 welcome everyone Adam ah woo here coming

0:04 to you from Joliet Illinois don't call

0:08 it Joliette if you do so you'll be fined

0:11 five dollars and it goes down on your

0:15 record as a misdemeanor a very unusual

0:17 law in this state but when I was

0:21 researching kind of pronounced the town

0:23 that was the first thing that came up

0:32 you be the judge whether it is legit or

0:32 not but I am not here to talk about

0:33 unusual pronunciations of towns I am

0:38 here to talk about soft-serve ice cream

0:41 and the company that brought it to

0:45 fruition you may have heard of them

0:47 Dairy Queen they started here but

0:51 there's also a weird backstory to that

0:54 as well it is a little bit of a

0:56 discrepancy and quite a controversial

0:59 subject on where it actually originated

1:03 I'm gonna get to the bottom of this join

1:05 me

1:06 shall you at the crossroads of Ottawa

1:09 Street Ohio Street and Chicago Street is

1:13 a building that once housed the Dairy

1:18 Queen named for the first time just to

1:22 give a little frame of reference that's

1:24 what it looked like way back then and

1:27 this is what it looks like now

1:37 pretty much the same only difference

1:37 really is the coloration and the signage

1:41 whoa all right buddy

1:44 just checking out the old Dairy Queen it

1:47 has been designated a local landmark

1:50 looks as if the building was built the

1:53 same year the town was founded but of

1:56 course Dairy Queen didn't take over the

1:58 property until 1940 not only that sign

2:03 but also another informative plaque

2:07 right down there on the ground in front

2:10 of the entrance on this site and in this

2:12 building the world's first DQ store

2:15 opened on June 22nd of 1940 soft-serve

2:20 ice cream was unknown before its

2:23 invention in the next town over in 1938

2:27 by John Grandpa McCullough he passed

2:33 away in 1963 and his son helped with the

2:37 creation of soft-serve Alex

2:39 McCullough they convinced friend and

2:42 customer Sherwood nicknamed Sherm Noble

2:46 to offer the product in his ice cream

2:49 store in the next town over which I will

2:51 be visiting after this the new treat was

2:54 extremely popular and Noble and the

2:57 McCullough's went on to open the first

3:00 Dairy Queen store right here

3:10 it's a confusing tale but at least we

3:10 know where the first Dairy Queen was

3:14 right under those rooms in fact I was

3:17 just talking for a little bit with a guy

3:19 that lives upstairs he came out and was

3:21 telling me some information about the

3:22 place the entire building is exactly the

3:26 same as it was in 1940 as far as the

3:29 brickwork and the structure is concerned

3:32 if you reference back to that old photo

3:34 that you can find online the carvings up

3:39 there are still the same as well as some

3:41 metal latches you can see these metal

3:45 latches embedded in the brick those

3:48 metal latches held lights there were

3:52 lights clamped on

4:03 by that latch there and a latch right

4:03 there check it out there's the lights

4:06 and the brackets I asked him if he knew

4:09 what this metal protrusion was sticking

4:12 out of the side he said he wasn't 100%

4:15 sure there's only one there there's not

4:18 another one over there I was thinking

4:19 and maybe he was to hold a sign but

4:21 there's only one just welded in into the

4:25 wall he also mentioned that down here

4:28 this is all completely original even

4:32 that little beam there in the middle

4:34 except on this side you'll notice has

4:38 been patched up a few years ago someone

4:41 drove a car right through there and they

4:44 had to replace that little section

4:46 looking at it from this perspective it'd

4:48 be pretty cool if the company or maybe

4:50 just a person in general it was very

4:52 creative painted a whole mural on the

4:56 side of that wall there's plenty of

4:58 space there it's like stepping back into

5:00 a time portal the moldings are all still

5:04 original just painted over other than

5:08 that though

5:10 everything's old-school even the

5:12 electricity that's smushed into the

5:15 wooden roof I bet that wooden roof is

5:18 probably probably been there for many

5:22 many decades as well

5:32 pretty fascinating stuff just imagine if

5:32 you will think of what it must have been

5:34 like for the first time to experience

5:37 soft-serve ice cream walking through

5:40 that door this is some pretty cool

5:44 history when it comes to food product

5:47 right through that door

5:49 indoors is now an insurance office but

5:52 take a look at the roof

5:55 right up there the design work still

6:00 remains one other thing I just noticed

6:03 see the little circular round items

6:06 above the sign there's two there and

6:08 then there's another round item there

6:11 followed by a metal plate and there they

6:15 are one two

6:21 the third followed by the metal plate

6:26 still there while this is fascinating

6:29 enough on its own I'm gonna go to two

6:32 more spots to tie into the subject

6:35 matter so say goodbye the location

6:37 number one as we go a little further

6:40 down the rabbit hole

6:55 I wonder if all this traffic knows what

6:55 they're passing by

6:56 probably not

7:03 what if a police officer knows what he

7:03 just passed by

7:05 without VAM when I said next town over I

7:08 guess I should have mentioned it's about

7:10 45 miles to the next destination and if

7:15 you're wondering I flew into Chicago

7:16 this morning rented a car and cruising

7:19 around the Midwest for about the next

7:21 seven eight nine or ten days hey guys

7:26 wondering if you could help me I'm

7:29 looking for the original spot where soft

7:36 surf originated I figured since you guys

7:41 provide the milk you'd know any ideas

7:54 now I'm on my own huh

7:54 know how all right I'll just keep

7:58 looking take care fellas catch you later

8:05 found this article written in 1973 by

8:08 Chernobyl before he passed away talking

8:12 about how two years before the first

8:14 Dairy Queen in 1938 they needed to test

8:19 out the idea of the soft-serve so they

8:23 didn't add his store located at 255

8:27 Southwest Avenue in Kankakee which would

8:31 have placed that on the backside of this

8:33 train station across the railroad tracks

8:37 the funny thing is look what sits here

8:42 currently in this parking lot

8:46 nice it's kind of interesting however

8:48 after scouring the internet I couldn't

8:50 find much information other than that

8:52 article pinpointing the location in this

8:55 building right here however there's no

8:59 photos there's no historical

9:01 documentation of it heck even the

9:04 original Dairy Queen that opened in 1940

9:08 just recently had a plaque put there so

9:12 I wonder if they will ever desi make

9:14 this place as the first let me rephrase

9:17 that

9:18 maybe not the birth of DQ but at least

9:21 the start of the soft-serve phenomenon

9:25 if this structure was built back in 1938

9:31 then this is the spot the article goes

9:34 on to state that they gave out

9:36 all-you-can-eat for just ten cents

9:38 within two hours 1,600 servings had been

9:44 dished out oh yes they were on to

9:47 something but as I stand here now maybe

9:50 the building was here you can see the

9:52 foundation with the numbers over there

9:54 don't precisely match up it's very

9:58 confusing safe to say there was another

10:01 facade where this parking lot is and if

10:05 you look at the numbers on the door we

10:08 got two five three on the far right

10:11 which should make this door two five

10:14 five with two five seven be here or with

10:18 two five five be there so it was

10:22 basically somewhere in here could that

10:23 would be 255 we're looking for 255 this

10:27 has been this has been replaced it's a

10:31 different store front but I'm almost

10:33 confident this building was here in 38

10:39 are you guys thinking it's a serious

10:42 conundrum nonetheless on this block with

10:48 the inspiration and the propelling

10:51 motion of delicious creamy goodness

11:00 which started the company and to make

11:00 things even more confusing if you want a

11:04 little taste test you have to go about

11:07 3/4 of a mile down this road to the

11:10 oldest operating and first franchisee

11:14 got the old school logo old school

11:19 building and even as you exit the

11:22 drive-through there's even a there's

11:26 even an ice-cream cone

11:27 you only have two options drive-through

11:30 her sit outdoors the inside is

11:34 specifically the restaurant there's no

11:37 seating indoors

11:40 that's good my idea was to enjoy a

11:43 little at the site of the first

11:45 franchise but the employees here they

11:49 weren't too confident

11:50 in this being the vers franchise they

11:53 say it's over on another road there's

11:56 another one in town older than this one

11:57 so now I'm going to have to have two of

11:59 these it's very confusing but at least

12:04 it's delicious

12:11 cold this one's located on the corner of

12:11 West Station Street and South Wall

12:15 Street

12:22 the Mystery Continues and now about a

12:22 mile away

12:23 on the corner of maple and Country Club

12:26 Drive it's like I've entered the

12:29 twilight zone you could throw a rock

12:32 granny get the throw it very very hard

12:35 but you can throw a rock and hit two

12:37 identical-looking buildings

12:47 dudududududududu not only the vintage

12:47 road sign but also the vintage sign on

12:52 the building itself it's a little

12:53 different than the other one also

12:55 nowhere to eat indoors

12:58 it's a walk-up so you have to sit

13:01 outside here as well to eat your ice

13:04 cream that's gonna do it for today my

13:09 adventure into Dairy Queen full or let

13:14 me know what you think leave a comment

13:16 down below and tell me which one you

13:18 think is the original according to your

13:20 opinion while I

13:29 chocolate

13:29 see you in the next video

The Very First Dairy Queen / Where Soft Serve Ice Cream Began

Transcript