The Big Mac Museum

The Irwin, Pennsylvania McDonald’s location details the history of the iconic sandwich. However, the location of the museum rankled the residents of the city where the Big Mac was first sold, almost 40 miles away.

The Big Mac was created by western Pennsylvania franchisee Jim Delligatti, and first served in 1967. The sandwich would then become part of the nationwide menu a year later, and would go on to worldwide fame along with the company. The Economist even uses the Big Mac Index as a way to compare the purchasing power of two currencies. In 2007 the Irwin location was remodeled and became the Big Mac Museum, with a Big Mac sculpture 14 feet tall and 12 feet in diameter, a timeline of the sandwich’s history, and various merchandise and packaging displays.

While the sandwich was introduced in western Pennsylvania, some residents of Uniontown, where it was first served, wondered why the museum was placed at this location. A company spokesman said that the museum was established there because of the size of the property and the proximity of the busy Irwin Interchange of the Pennsylvania Turnpike. However, displays in the Big Mac Museum prominently herald Uniontown as the birthplace of an American icon.