Ken & Cindy McClain

Ken and Cindy McClain are the husband-and-wife team widely credited with the revitalization of the Independence Square. Beginning with a single boarded-up building in 1998, they grew their effort into roughly fifteen restaurants and businesses — and more than twenty restored century-old buildings — around the historic square, a sustained act of civic preservation in eastern Jackson County.

Biography

Kenneth B. McClain is a nationally recognized trial lawyer and a shareholder in the Independence firm Humphrey, Farrington & McClain, known for complex toxic-tort and mass-tort litigation — including the pioneering diacetyl “popcorn lung” cases — with verdicts and settlements exceeding $1 billion since 1986.¹ A graduate of the University of Michigan Law School (1982), he also serves as a trustee of the State Historical Society of Missouri.²

In 1998, Ken and Cindy McClain bought their first boarded-up building on the Independence Square — the former Katz Pharmacy — and opened Ophelia’s restaurant at 206 N. Main Street.³ What began as a single rescue grew into a portfolio of restaurants and businesses — including the Court House Exchange, Café Verona, Clinton’s Soda Fountain, Square Pizza, and Main Street Coffee House — that anchored the square’s revival.³⁴

Cindy McClain, an artist (with a degree in graphic arts), serves as president of the McClain Restaurant Group, overseeing the family’s Independence Square businesses, and sits on numerous civic boards and commissions, including the Independence Tourism Board, the City of Independence Planning Commission, and the Independence Square Association.³

Legacy

The McClains’ decades-long investment turned a struggling historic square into a dining and cultural destination, a model of locally driven downtown preservation in the Kansas City metro.

See also

• independence-mo
• courthouse-exchange

Sources

Footnotes

1. “Kenneth B. McClain,” Humphrey, Farrington & McClain — trial attorney; toxic/mass-tort litigation (diacetyl “popcorn lung”); J.D. University of Michigan (1982); $1B+ in verdicts/settlements since 1986. ↩

2. “Kenneth B. McClain,” State Historical Society of Missouri trustees (term 2023–2026). ↩

3. “Palatable Pursuits: Trailblazer Cindy McClain,” The Independent (KC) — first building (former Katz Pharmacy) 1998; Ophelia’s at 206 N. Main; McClain Restaurant Group; ~15 businesses / 20+ restored buildings; civic roles. ↩ ↩² ↩³

4. “Independence Square,” The Pitch — named McClain businesses on the square. ↩