Daddy Kain fed the children of Cape

The one-story white building in the center of this photograph is the Stucco restaurant, built by Fred A. "Daddy" Kain in the fall of 1916. It stood on the site of the Riverview Hotel on the northwest corner of Broadway and Water Street. (Southeast Missourian archive)

The Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons always remind me of a kind man who once lived in Cape Girardeau and fed its unfortunate children: Daddy Kain.

Kain, whose real name was Fredrick A. Kain, was a restaurant operator here in the early 1900s. In 1917 on Thanksgiving Day, with the whole world seemingly at war, Kain set his table for the town's children who most needed a hearty meal. It was said at that time that he did this to honor his late mother. All he asked of the children was that they show up at his feast with clean hands and faces.

Published in The Daily Republican, Nov. 28, 1917:

WEATHER MAN IS PROMISING 'DADDY' KAIN A FINE DAY

Everything in Readiness at Stucco to Feed Cape Children Thanksgiving Day.

"Daddy" Kain is a happy man today, not only because he is going to give Cape Girardeau children, white and black, a fine dinner free of charge on Thanksgiving Day, but because the weather man is promising a clear and warm day for the occasion.

At noon today Mr. Kain inquired of The Republican man what the weather forecast is for tomorrow and when told that the weather man is promising fair and warmer weather he showed emotions of happiness. "If the weather man only fulfills his prediction," said Mr. Kain, "I know I will have a big crowd of youngsters out and that is what I want; the more the better."

Kain today completed cooking his Thanksgiving dinner. Twenty-two big geese, 20 fine, fat ducks, 15 yellow-legged chickens and 150 pounds of a choice beef all are in readiness for the occasion. And besides all those things the trimmin's that go with them are all ready for the table.

If the day is bright and not too cold the dinner will be served on the sidewalk running north from the restaurant while if the weather is bad the dinner will be served inside.

All children in the city who come to the restaurant with clean hands ad faces will be given all the dinner they can eat free of charge, but they must be clean.

Editorial published in The Daily Republican, Nov. 28, 1917:

THE REAL THING

Tomorrow a number of boys and girls will be made happy by the kindness of Daddy Kain. Many of them will enjoy a Thanksgiving diner such as they have never had before. Many of them will eat it unthinkingly as to the magnitude of the work on the part of the door, but all will enjoy the satisfaction of appeased appetites and will feel the glow of contentment when all is well with him.

But on the books of the recording angel who keeps a list of those who remember Him who said "Even as ye do it unto these, so ye do it unto Me," an entry will be made of the name of Daddy Kain, and in the years to come into the memories of Men and women will come the recollection of a Thanksgiving dinner at the Stucco restaurant in Cape Girardeau.

Kain's feast was apparently an overwhelming success, as he fed "216 kiddies of Cape Girardeau."

An article published in The Daily Republican on Nov. 30, 1917, describes the dinner and further explains Kain's motivations for feeding the town's youngsters.

'I'M THE HAPPIEST MAN IN THE TOWN' SAID DADDY KAIN

Stucco Restaurant Man Fed 216 Children in Memory of His Mother.

"I'm the happiest man in Cape Girardeau," said Daddy Kain to a reporter for The Republican last night. "After nearly a century I was able to carry out the prayer of my mother, made on her death bed."

When Fred Kain was a young man he was a butcher in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. In the town lived 61 widows and on Christmas he gave each one a gift of meat. His old mother, an invalid, was a very charitable woman and encouraged him in doing kindly acts to the poor.

On her last bed of sickness she called her son and said: "Fred I hope the day will come when you can afford to give a Thanksgiving dinner to all the poor children in Williamsport and I pray for that day to come."

Wish Granted at Last

Just 44 years, to the day after his mother was buried Daddy Kain carried out her dying wish. It was not the poor boys and girls of his old home town that he feasted, but 216 kiddies of Cape Girardeau were made happy in the memory of an old mother who, 44 years before, had asked that they be fed.

Daddy Kain was happy last night, as he wended his way home, but he was very tired. It had been a strenuous day, following a week of hard work in preparing for the feed.

"I was offered help in furnishing the dinner," he said, "but I thought of my old mother's prayer and made up my mind I'd do the thing myself."

Mr. Kain appreciated the help of the ladies who so kindly gave their aid in serving those children. A number of churches were represented, but neither of the (black) churches sent a woman, nor did a (black) minister attend. But the (black) children were fed bountifully and the Rev. E.T. Clark of Centenary Methodist Church gave thanks for all

The ladies who assisted Mr. Kain in serving the feast were: Mesdames M.E. Leming, John F. Williams, J.F. Neal, Will Cantrell, George Waters, A.D. Speak, Misses Elizabeth Davis and Gladys Tanner and Capt. Hanson of the Salvation Army.

Daddy Kain's Thanksgiving feast for the boys and girls of Cape Girardeau was a success. Even the gloomy weather could not spoil the appetites of that crowd of young Americans, 216 boys and girls, who had as much goose, duck, chicken and other eats as they could get away with and were correspondingly happy.

Clean Faces and Hands

A long table was stretched out doors, east of the Stucco restaurant, just across the tracks from the Frisco passenger station. On either side of this the boys and girls lined up. Others were in the building ad many sat or stood in the back ground, every last one with as much good eats as he could handle.

Kindhearted women were there, too, to see that the boys and girls were served, and Daddy Kain never for a minute ceased looking after his guests.

And to the honor of the kiddies it must be said that they came with clean faces and hands. Some of them wore torn clothes, and the feet of some were cold because of ragged shoes, but their faces shone from soap, water and scrubbing and their hands were cleaner than kids usually display.

And Eat! Well I hope!

On the table were bushels of apples and piles of cakes, so that, as they emptied their platters, the kids could see before them good things to follow. One kid told The Republican reporter confidentially if it hadn't been for wanting to leave room for an apple or two he would never let go on chicken and duck.

Kain repeated his children's Thanksgiving feast again in 1920, when it served to inaugurate his new restaurant "near the Frisco passenger station, at the corner of Independence and Water streets." During that dinner, he fed 200 youngsters "all the goose, rabbit, chicken, with all sorts of trimmings, that they" could eat. It's possible he staged his dinners in other years as well, his obituary calling them "an institution."

Kain sold his Stucco restaurant in May 1922 to James Gill and died the following year. According to his obituary, published in the Missourian on Nov. 7, 1923, Kain had amassed a small fortune in the restaurant business, but toward the end of his life he fell on hard times, even coming out of retirement several months before his death at age 72 to open another cafe on Broadway.

But Daddy Kain will always be remembered for his kindness to the less fortunate. His obituary reads: "He was a friend to the poor, a man who was was willing to assist the 'down and outer.' His Thanksgiving dinners to the poor children of the city for years were an institution and they were looked forward to by the needy. He always said that as long as he was alive he would attempt to help the poor children on Thanksgiving Day with a bountiful dinner..."

Kain was survived by a daughter, Cora St. John, and three sons, Edgar, Nathan and Ray Kain. He is buried at Fairmount Cemetery.