Timeline
1890 ' Colonel Harland Sanders, the founder of the KFC Corporation, was born.
1932 ' Colonel Sanders developed his special blend of 11 spices and herbs, which marked the beginning of his famous Original Recipe chicken.
1935 ' The Colonel became known as the Kentucky Colonel; this name is what later became incorporated in the name Kentucky Fried Chicken.
1939 ' After years spent improving the quality of his products, the Colonel improved his chicken frying process drastically by purchasing a pressure cooker.
1950 ' A highway was built right through the Colonel's town where his chicken business was'so he shut the business down and lived off his social security checks.
1952 ' He couldn't stay away - the chicken was so good that Colonel Sanders began traveling across the country, selling his chicken to restaurant patrons at a nickel apiece. This allowed his to begin franchising his special blend of spices for his chicken.
1964 ' Colonel Sanders sold the KFC franchising corporation, now doing rather well, to John Brown Jr. for $2 million. At this point in time, there were more than 600 KFC franchises in the USA.
1966 ' KFC went public with its franchises and special chicken recipe.
1969 ' KFC was listed on the New York Stock Exchange for the first time.
1971 ' Heublin, Inc. acquired over 3,500 Kentucky Fried Chicken franchises for the petty sum of $285 million.
1973 ' The first KFC opened overseas, Malaysia being the first lucky recipient of the American owned and operated corporation.
1976 ' Colonel Sanders received an award for becoming the world's second most recognizable celebrity.