An unassuming two-story brick building on Historic Route 66 in Joliet’s Downtown has quietly maintained a hidden history as the first home of an internationally iconic brand. The world’s first Dairy Queen® location at 501 N. Chicago in Joliet, Ill., now is under management of the Joliet Area Historical Museum (JAHM), which is giving the building a historically accurate facelift in time for the 2026 Centennial of Route
66.
While the development of Dairy Queen soft serve dates back to the late 1930s, the first Dairy Queen location was opened in Joliet by J.F. “Grandpa” McCullough and his family and Sherb Noble on June 22, 1940. The building, originally constructed in the 1890s, was…