Howard Dearing Johnson was born in 1897, the son of a cigar merchant. By the time Johnson inherited his father's business, it was heavily in debt. He sold what he could and in 1925 borrowed $500 to open a small patent medicine store in Quincy, Massachusetts.

Johnson put in a soda fountain and sold three flavors of ice cream, vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry. Three years later, he added frankfurters, hamburgers, and other easily prepared menu items. The little drugstore became the first Howard Johnson's Restaurant.

By 1935, there were 25 Howard Johnson roadside ice cream and sandwich stands in Massachusetts. During the next five years, the number grew to more than 100 along the Atlantic Coast through Florida.

In 1940, Johnson opened a restaurant on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, the first turnpike restaurant in the country. Howard Johnson's customers had become mostly travelers.

The next logical step was to add motor lodges to the orange-roofed highway restaurants. The first Howard Johnson's Motel franchise opened in Savannah, Georgia, in 1954.