page_title: History of McDonald's
section_title: 1970s
hierarchical_section_title: History of McDonald's / Timeline / 1970s
caption_attribution_description: Photo I took 2006-05-20 in Austin, Minnesota. CC &amp; GFDL.
context_page_description: This history of McDonald's is an overview of the original restaurant and of the chain.
context_section_description: 1970: McDonald's opens in Costa Rica, its third country after the United States and Canada.
  1970: Having changed hands in 1968, the original "Big M" restaurant closes. It is demolished two years later, with only part of the sign remaining; this has since been restored.
  1971: The first Asian McDonald's opens in July in Japan, in Tokyo's Ginza district.
  1971: On August 21, the first European McDonald's outlet opens, in Zaandam (near Amsterdam) in the Netherlands. The franchisee is Ahold.
  1971: The first McDonald's in Germany (Munich) opens in November. It is the first McDonald's to sell alcohol, as it offers beer. Other European countries follow in the early 1970s.
  1971: Maurice McDonald dies on December 11
  1971: The first McDonald's in the Southern Hemisphere opens in Australia, in the Sydney suburb of Yagoona in December. The restaurant becomes known locally as "Maccas".
  1972: The McDonald's system generates $1 billion in sales through 2200 restaurants.
  1972: The 2000th McDonald's restaurant opens in Des Plaines, Illinois.
  1972: The first McDonald's in France opens, in Créteil, even though the company officially recognizes the first outlet in Strasbourg in 1979.
  1972: The first McDonald's in New York City opens on Manhattan's Upper West Side, dubbed "Townhouse" (to reflect that it was not a drive-in) and serves a record 100,000 hamburgers in its first week.
  1973: The first McDonald's Playland opens in Chula Vista, California.
  1973: The first Swedish McDonald's restaurant opens in Stockholm, 23 October.
  1973: The Quarter Pounder is introduced.
  1973: The Egg McMuffin, invented by Herb Peterson, owner and operator of a Santa Barbara franchise, is introduced to the menu.
  1974: On November 13, the first McDonald's in the United Kingdom opens in Woolwich, southeast London. It is the company's 3000th restaurant.
  1974: The first Ronald McDonald House opens in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
  1975: The first Hong Kong McDonald's opens in January in Paterson Street, in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong Island. It is also the first McDonald's restaurant in Greater China and the Four Asian Tigers.
  1975: Drive-Thru is introduced in January in Sierra Vista, Arizona in order to serve meals to soldiers from nearby Fort Huachuca who were not allowed to wear BDUs while off post except while in a vehicle. The Drive-Thru is later known as "McDrive" in some countries.
  1976: The first McDonald's in Switzerland, on Rue du Mont-Blanc in Geneva.
  1976: McDonald's pays its first cash dividend
  1976: The 4000th McDonald's restaurant opens in Montréal, Canada.
  1978: The 5000th McDonald's restaurant opens in Kanagawa, Japan.
  1978: Hamburger University celebrates the graduation of its 15,000th student.
  1979: The Happy Meal is introduced in the U.S.
  1979: The first McDonald's in Southeast Asia opens, in Singapore.
caption: An early-1970s McDonald's sign in Austin, Minnesota, showing the number of burgers sold. From 1969, the number was displayed in billions, increasing with every 5 billion. When the total reached 100 billion in 1993, the signs of this era were changed to display 99 billion permanently, as there was only room for two digits, though some signs use the "Billions and Billions Served" tagline.
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