This profile is in active compilation — some details are awaiting a cited source.

Courthouse Exchange is a below-street-level burger-and-beer tavern at 113 W Lexington Ave on the Independence Square, open since 1899 and billed as the only Missouri restaurant serving burgers and beer continuously since that year — making it one of the oldest operating eateries in the metro and an anchor of the McClain family’s Square revival.12

| Corporate parent | None — privately held by the McClains; not a chain |34 | | Notable features | Underground, carved-rock-walled dining room below the Square; large patio; hand-breaded pork tenderloin; on-site music venue “Between the Bricks”; across from the Truman-era Jackson County Courthouse |124 |

Description

Courthouse Exchange is a casual American restaurant and bar set in the rock-walled basement of a historic building on the north side of the Independence Square, directly across from the historic Jackson County Courthouse where Harry Truman served as presiding judge.2 The room sits below street level amid carved-rock surroundings, with a wooden bar and an extensive seasonal patio.1 The kitchen leans on tavern comfort food — The Pitch named a large pork tenderloin as the house dish; the official homepage currently headlines The Oregon Trail burger and a salad bar, and /menu prices Bailiff’s fried-chicken picnic packs.125 The business markets itself as “the only restaurant in Missouri serving burgers and beer since 1899.”1 An on-site live-music space, Between the Bricks, operates at the same location.3

Current hours are Mon–Thu 11am–9pm, Fri–Sat 11am–10pm, Sun 11am–4pm.1

Ownership and history

The restaurant traces its founding to 1899, a date asserted by the business itself and repeated by local press, which places it among the oldest continuously operating restaurants/taverns in the Kansas City area.12 The original founder’s name in 1899 is **** — primary records (early Independence directories or Jackson County archives) would be needed to confirm the first proprietor and the unbroken chain of operation. The business’s own language (“though the ownership has changed, the goodwill lives on”) indicates the establishment has passed through multiple owners across its 125-plus-year run rather than staying within one family the entire time.2

Today Courthouse Exchange is owned and operated by Ken and Cindy McClain, the husband-and-wife team behind the modern revival of the Independence Square.34 The McClains bought their first boarded-up building on the Square in 1998 and have since assembled a portfolio of roughly 15–18 Square businesses — including Ophelia’s Restaurant & Inn, Clinton’s Soda Fountain, Café Verona, Square Pizza, Main Street Coffee House, and others — under their privately held McClain Enterprises / McClain Restaurant Group.34 Courthouse Exchange is among the dining concepts they operate on the Square.34 Ken McClain is a longtime Independence attorney and entrepreneur; Cindy McClain holds a graphic-arts background and has been described as the driving force behind day-to-day operations of the Square businesses.3 The couple chose Independence in part because both of their grandparents had lived in the area.3

The exact year the McClains took over Courthouse Exchange is ****; available sources place it within their post-1998 Square-revitalization era but do not pin the specific acquisition date.

Last verified: 2026-08-30 · Source: Courthouse Exchange official /menu (picnic packs) + homepage · URL(s): https://www.courthouseexchange.com/menu · https://www.courthouseexchange.com/ · Confidence: High on picnic-pack dollars; à la carte unpriced

Official http://www.courthouseexchange.com/menu.html is 404. Sitemap /menu (lastmod 2025-06-19) is a picnic-pack / quart card, not a full à la carte. No operator PDF on the site. Toast POS is linked from the official “ORDER ONLINE” button but returns 403 to a non-browser fetch and was not used for prices.6 AllMenus dollars and aggregator-only dishes (Truman Triple Stack, Cobb, nachos, gizzards, stroganoff, and the rest of the June 2026 AllMenus card) are retired — not imported.7 Descriptions below are copied only where the operator prints them. À la carte names the operator still prints stay unpriced: “.5

The /menu page opens with “Ask us about our daily lunch specials!”5

Picnic packs & quarts (first-party priced)

“Pick Up A Picnic Pack! Treat Dad for Father’s Day or head to the lake for the perfect weekend!”5

  • Fried Chicken Bucket Family Picnic Pack — 2 pieces of our Bailiff’s Fried Chicken Breast; 8 Chicken Tenders; quart of Mac-n-Cheese; quart of Green Beans; includes choice of 3 sauces ($64.99)5
  • Bucket of Fried Chicken — 2 pieces of our Bailiff’s Fried Chicken Breast; 8 Chicken Tenders; includes choice of 3 sauces ($39.99)5

“Need more food for you picnic? Order a quart of:”5

  • Cole Slaw ($13.99)5
  • Green Beans ($13.99)5
  • Apple Sauce ($13.99)5
  • Mac-n-Cheese ($16.99)5
  • Mashed Potatoes & Gravy ($16.99)5
  • Family French Fries ($13.99)5
  • Family Sweet Potato Fries ($16.99)5

Operator-named, unpriced

  • The Oregon Trail (burger) — named on the official homepage (“Sink your teeth into The Oregon Trail burger”). No printed description or price on /menu.1
  • Salad bar — named on the official homepage. No printed price.1
  • Bailiff’s Fried Chicken / Chicken Tenders — named as the picnic-pack proteins; no à la carte platter price on /menu.5
  • Pork tenderloin — The Pitch (2019) names a large pork tenderloin as the house dish. Operator HTML does not currently print the item or a price.2

See also

Sources

Footnotes

  1. Courthouse Exchange — official website (home / about / footer), served 2026-08-30. “The only restaurant in Missouri serving burgers and beer since 1899”; The Oregon Trail burger; salad bar; underground carved-rock room; hours Mon–Thu 11am–9pm, Fri–Sat 11am–10pm, Sun 11am–4pm; 113 W Lexington Ave · courthouseexchange.com ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10

  2. The Pitch — “Independence, MO’s charming, old-school eateries (plus a brewery!): a guide,” 2019. Founding 1899; across from the Truman courthouse; “ownership has changed, the goodwill lives on”; signature large pork tenderloin ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7

  3. The Independent (kcindependent.com) — “Palatable Pursuits: Trailblazer Cindy McClain.” McClain Square business portfolio (incl. Court House Exchange and Between the Bricks); Cindy’s Boulder/Michigan background; grandparents in Independence; first Square building 1998 ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7

  4. Feast Magazine — “Ken and Cindy McClain Begin Bottling Polly’s Soda Pop in Independence,” 2016. Ken & Cindy McClain ownership of Square businesses and revitalization since 1998 ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  5. Courthouse Exchange — official /menu page (sitemap lastmod 2025-06-19; served 2026-08-30) — asserts: “Ask us about our daily lunch specials!”; Fried Chicken Bucket Family Picnic Pack $64.99 (2 pieces Bailiff’s Fried Chicken Breast, 8 Chicken Tenders, quart Mac-n-Cheese, quart Green Beans, 3 sauces); Bucket of Fried Chicken $39.99 (2 pieces Bailiff’s Fried Chicken Breast, 8 Chicken Tenders, 3 sauces); quarts Cole Slaw / Green Beans / Apple Sauce $13.99; Mac-n-Cheese / Mashed Potatoes & Gravy $16.99; Family French Fries $13.99; Family Sweet Potato Fries $16.99. No à la carte burger/sandwich/plate card and no PDF. menu.html is 404. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11 ↩12 ↩13 ↩14 ↩15

  6. Courthouse Exchange — operator Toast ordering URL linked from the official “ORDER ONLINE” button (also the prior local URL toasttab.com). Not used as a price source 2026-08-30: both hosts returned HTTP 403 to a non-browser fetch; Firecrawl was not spent. First-party HTML/PDF hunt is the /menu picnic-pack card in 5. ↩

  7. RETIRED 2026-08-30 — aggregator discarded; do not cite as a live price source. AllMenus — Courthouse Exchange Restaurant menu, accessed June 2026 — previously asserted (aggregator dollars, now stripped): Pork Tenderloin Platter ~$11.79; Oregon Trail ~$10.99; Truman Triple Stack ~$12.99; Court House Cobb ~$6.99; Loaded Nachos ~$9.49; Gizzards & Livers ~$8.49; Golden Fries ~$6.99; Court House Exchange burger ~$9.99; Bacon Mac ‘n’ Cheese Burger ~$9.79; Pork Tenderloin Sandwich ~$9.99; Sliced Brisket ~$10.29; Stroganoff ~$11.99; Chicken Fried Chicken ~$11.29; Meatloaf ~$11.99; fried-chicken bucket ~$39.99. Live first-party prices are 5 only. ↩

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On the record — ks.city/registry/courthouse-exchange · record updated 2026-08-30