[cybrgeezer]

Back around 1960, my little town, a suburb of St. Louis, got its first McDonald's. It was run by a man from Chicago, a friend of Ray Kroc.

The story he used to tell diners was that he had been in a job on the road around the Midwest and wanted to settle down, so he went to his friend Kroc and asked if he could buy one of his McDonald's franchises.

But, he said, he didn't want it in Chicago because there were already two there and he worried the city couldn't support any more. Since he'd always enjoyed the St. Louis area on his travels, he wanted to put his restaurant there. That's how we got McDonald's #3.

Can you imagine? He thought a third McDonald's would flood the market in Chicago! I wonder how many McD's there are in the Chicago area today.