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

Huey’s on the Square is a small, counter-service breakfast-and-lunch café with a full coffee bar at 18 N. Main Street on the northwest corner of the historic Liberty square, open six mornings a week from 7 a.m. It is named for Hubert “Huey” Altis, a Liberty electrician and church deacon who spent the last years of his life at his own table there with coffee and a crossword until his death in July 2026. Expect chalkboard menus, biscuits and gravy, quiche, breakfast burritos, pancakes and waffles in the morning and deli sandwiches, Reubens and chicken salad at lunch, under a dark-green tin ceiling in a storefront that was an ice-cream shop in the 1990s.

Description

Huey’s occupies one of the narrow storefronts on the west side of the Liberty square, a few doors from the Clay County Courthouse. MIKCexplore, visiting in April 2025, described gold walls, a dark-green tin ceiling, gold chandeliers and local artwork hung on exposed brick, and noted that the room had been an ice-cream shop in the 1990s with far fewer seats.1 Ordering is at the counter from chalkboards on the wall; there are booths and tables, and the café is regularly recommended to families walking over from the Saturday farmers’ market on the square.2

The menu is diner breakfast and deli lunch. Morning staples cited across reviews and the 2025 write-up are biscuits and sausage gravy, quiche (a bacon-spinach quiche served with breakfast potatoes and fruit), breakfast burritos, omelets, pancakes, Belgian waffles, steel-cut oats and breakfast sandwiches; lunch runs to Reubens, Philly cheesesteaks, club sandwiches, Cuban sandwiches, chicken salad, grilled cheese, soups and salads.123 The coffee bar pours drip, lattes and Americanos.1 The café’s own one-page website summarizes the offer as “Breakfast, Lunch, Deli, Coffee.”4

Ownership and history

The café is named for Hubert Donald “Huey” Altis, born near Cabool, Missouri, on December 6, 1933. He moved to Kansas City in 1951, entered the apprenticeship program of IBEW Local 124 and remained a union electrician for life; he married Norma Hays in 1954, was a deacon, Sunday-school director and moderator at Liberty Manor Baptist Church, and a York Rite Mason with more than 65 years in Liberty Lodge #31. His sons are Donald Ray and David Paul Altis. He died July 2, 2026, and, in the words of his obituary, “spent the last few years of his life at his namesake, Huey’s on the Square, drinking coffee and working crossword puzzles.”5

The café announced his death on July 6, 2026 and closed on Thursday, July 9 for his funeral: “It is with heavy hearts that we share the passing of Hubert Altis, the beloved namesake of Huey’s on the Square … thank you, Hubert, for your kindness, your faith, your friendship, and for reminding us that sometimes the most meaningful legacies are built one conversation, one cup of coffee, and one familiar seat at the table at a time.”6 Downtown Liberty’s merchant association added that “his legacy lives on not only through the restaurant that bears his nickname, but through the countless memories made within its walls. Our hearts are with the Altis family, the Huey’s family.”7

Who owns and runs the café is not stated in any retrievable source. The business describes itself only as “locally owned”;8 the obituary does not say whether Altis or his family held the business, and the phrasing “the Altis family, the Huey’s family” suggests two overlapping but distinct groups. The Tripadvisor listing carries reviews from August 2016, so the café has operated under this name for at least a decade.9 Earlier tenancy of 18 N. Main is unresearched beyond the 1990s ice-cream shop.1

Last verified: — · Source: none first-party · Confidence: Low. The café’s website carries no menu, and its NetWaiter ordering page did not render item listings when retrieved on 2026-08-29; the in-store menu is on chalkboards. Item names above come from press and diner reports, not from a first-party menu, so no prices are recorded. menu_status: unverified.

Sources

Footnotes

  1. Meredith Schneider, “Drinking Coffee in Kansas City: Huey’s On The Square,” MIKCexplore, 2025-04-21 — Confirms: northwest corner of Liberty Square; diner-style; gold walls, dark green tin ceiling, gold chandeliers, local art on exposed brick; 1990s ice-cream-shop tenancy; drip coffee, lattes, Americanos; pancakes, steel-cut oatmeal, Belgian waffles, breakfast sandwich, biscuits and gravy, Philly cheesesteaks, chicken salad, grilled cheese, barbecue chicken. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  2. Tripadvisor — “Huey’s on the Square, Liberty,” 25 reviews, rated 4.4, #18 of 68 Liberty restaurants. Retrieved 2026-08-29 — Confirms: website hueyscafe.com; counter ordering from chalkboards; booths and tables; bacon-spinach quiche with potatoes and fruit; Reuben, cinnamon rolls; “coffee $1.95 with free refills” (review dated 2025-02-01); Saturday farmers’-market foot traffic. ↩ ↩2

  3. Restaurantji — “Huey’s On the Square, Liberty,” 4.6 (174 ratings). Retrieved 2026-08-29 — Confirms: hours 7AM–2:30PM; tin ceiling; customer favorites (biscuits and gravy, breakfast burrito with chorizo, omelets, bagel sausage sandwich, funny-face pancakes, grilled chicken salad). Third-party aggregate; provisional. ↩

  4. Huey’s on the Square — official website (single page). Retrieved 2026-08-29 — Confirms: name; “Breakfast, Lunch, Deli, Coffee”; hours “Monday – Saturday 7:00am till 2:30 pm, Closed Sunday”; phone 816-415-4727. ↩

  5. “Hubert Donald Altis,” obituary, Park Lawn Funeral Homes, Liberty, MO (death 2026-07-02). Retrieved 2026-08-29 — Confirms: birth 1933-12-06 near Cabool, MO; moved to Kansas City 1951; IBEW Local 124 apprenticeship and lifelong membership; marriage to Norma Hays 1954-04-18; sons Donald Ray and David Paul; Liberty (Manor) Baptist Church roles; Liberty Lodge #31; “spent the last few years of his life at his namesake, Huey’s on the Square, drinking coffee and working crossword puzzles”; services July 9 at Park Lawn Northland Chapel. ↩

  6. Huey’s On The Square (@hueysonthesquareliberty), Instagram post, 2026-07-06 — Confirms: Hubert Altis as “the beloved namesake of Huey’s on the Square”; closure Thursday, July 9, 2026 for his celebration of life; quoted tribute. ↩

  7. Downtown Liberty (@downtownliberty), Instagram post, 2026-07-06 — Confirms: “the restaurant that bears his nickname”; “Our hearts are with the Altis family, the Huey’s family”; “We’ll miss seeing him at his table.” ↩

  8. Huey’s On The Square (@hueysonthesquareliberty), Instagram profile. Retrieved 2026-08-29 — Confirms: bio “Locally owned breakfast and lunch cafe, with a full coffee bar. Visit us in beautiful Historic Downtown Liberty!”; address 18 N. Main St.; website hueyscafe.com; posts dated July 1, July 6 and August 7, 2026. ↩

  9. Tripadvisor — “Awesome breakfast,” review of Huey’s on the Square, reviewed 2016-08-26 (and “Nice restaurant and coffee spot,” 2016-08-20) — Confirms: the café was operating under this name by August 2016. ↩

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On the record — ks.city/registry/hueys-on-the-square · record updated 2026-08-29