“A successful string of restaurants were opened under his management. People knew that if Jack Inoway was involved, the food would be good.”[1]
This quote centralizes what Jack Inoway was known for during his life: making good food. This is not the only thing Inoway did as a career during his life. Inoway was a cook in the United States Navy and was also a vaudeville performer before becoming a restaurateur. We will follow his restaurant career from being a cook in Y.M.C.A. cafeterias to owning and running Jack’s Cafeteria. We will also touch on some of his other ventures before talking about how World War II impacted the end of Inoway’s career and life. While Jack Inoway was primarily known as an accomplished restaurateur in Allen County, he also built exciting careers in several industries and left a lasting legacy of improving his community.
Jack Inoway was born on July 10, 1889, in Japan.[2] The names of his parents and the city of his birth are unknown. The original spelling of his last name was Inoue; it is believed he changed it around the time he immigrated into the United States in 1900.[3] It is thought that Inoway first lived in New York City when he came to the United States.[4] Unfortunately, because of laws against Asian immigrants becoming citizens during his lifetime, Inoway would never become a United States citizen.[5]
The timeline of Jack Inoway’s early life is not extremely clear, but it does seem as though his first vocation was as a cook in the United States Navy. Inoway appears to have enlisted in 1906 and served on the USS Connecticut.[6] We know specifically that he participated on the Navy World’s Cruise, known today as the Great White Fleet from 1907 to 1909.[7] The Great White Fleet was an idea President Theodore Roosevelt had where the United States’ Atlantic Fleet would do a “good will” tour around the world.[8] It was a way to show off the United States’ modern naval power. The USS Connecticut was the flagship of the whole voyage.[9] The journey took fourteen months, covered an estimated 43,000 miles, docked in twenty ports, and visited six continents.[10] Inoway cooked for the crew during the entire voyage.[11] Unfortunately, it is unclear as to when Inoway finished his career in the navy. Perhaps it was right after the Great White Fleet ended, or some years later. Sometime in the early to mid-1910s, Inoway began his next career outside the kitchen.
Inoway became a talented Vaudeville performer after serving in the United States Navy. For a while he was with the Keith Circuit and did bicycle riding tricks as well as acrobatic acts.[12] He was also well known for his inverted and reversible writing trick, which he would do on a large blackboard.[13] Throughout his entertainment career he travelled and performed on many American stages.[14] According to Inoway, the highlight of his vaudeville career was performing in Washington at the Keith Theatre in 1916, a performance that President Woodrow Wilson attended.[15] Soon after that Inoway would become a restaurateur in Ohio, but he still performed. In Lima, he was known for entertaining his customers, children around town, and also doing charity events utilizing his tricks and talents.[16] In 1922, he performed for a weekend at the Orpheum Theatre.[17] The act was described as unique and unusual; however, they did not go into specifics about what tricks he showcased.[18] Likewise, for an event for his children’s school in 1941, Inoway performed magic and slight-of-hand tricks.[19] Thus, even though Inoway became a restaurateur, he still was an entertainer during his decades in Lima.
During the late 1910s, Inoway began his career as a restaurateur. It is known that he held restaurant management positions in both Dayton and Piqua before coming to Lima.[20] Likewise, an advertisement from his first business in Lima, a cafeteria in the Y.M.C.A., stated he had managed Toledo’s Y.M.C.A. Cafeteria as well.[21] Thus, it seems likely he spent most of the later half of the 1910s running restaurants in Western Ohio. By June of 1919, Inoway was running the first cafeteria in Lima’s Y.M.C.A.[22] That cafeteria would blossom and with his partner Yoshi Akagi, in 1921, they would open Jack and Yoshi’s Cafeteria in the Elecktron Apartments, right where the parking garage is on West Market Street across from the Civic Center.[23] This was Jack’s main restaurant in Lima for the entirety of his restaurateur career. Jack and Yoshi’s Cafeteria was known for its seafood and chop suey; focusing more on Asian American cuisine than his later restaurants.[24] During the 1920s, Akagi would move back to Japan and Inoway would become the primary proprietor of the cafeteria.[25] Jack and Yoshi’s Cafeteria would move from the Elecktron Apartments in 1937; we will discuss that further in a few paragraphs.[26] At some point in the 1920s, Jack opened what seems to be one other restaurant, although, that is a little ambiguous. In April of 1923, Inoway, Frank Day, and a couple of other Lima businessmen bought out Charley’s Coffee Shoppe.[27] It was stated at that time that they were going to name the business Jack and Frank’s Chop House.[28] Alas, there were no advertisements or further mentions of this restaurant in newspapers to be found. Except that on May 19, 1923, Jack and Frank’s Steak House opened.[29] Which makes it seem more likely that Inoway and Day decided to rename the restaurant to Jack and Frank’s Steak House before opening the establishment. These two, or perhaps three, restaurants are what kept Inoway busy during the 1920s.
Throughout the 1930s, Inoway expanded his restaurant portfolio by adding another restaurant and opening his most famous cafeteria. The Regal Club Café was opened in 1930, as a businessmen’s lunch option.[30] It was located at 113 N. Elizabeth St., right next to where the downtown Kewpee is located.[31] The chef of the Regal Club Café was Eddy Furrie, who was also the head chef of Jack and Yoshi’s at that time.[32] The newspaper ad boasted that he had formerly been with the Mohawk Hotel in Schenectady, New York.[33] This seemed a common throughline of Inoway’s restaurants, that they had enough appeal to bring staff from afar. When Jack and Yoshi’s moved to the 100 block of W. High Street, near where the Perennialglow Spa is today,[34] the opening newspaper mentioned the credentials of a few of the staff members.[35] The manager of what then became known as Jack’s Cafeteria was F. C. Harrison.[36] From Chicago originally, Harrison would later become Inoway’s business partner.[37] Mrs. Marie Warfield was the head chef of Jack’s Cafeteria; she was also from Chicago.[38] She was noted as having run a significant cafeteria on the Century of Progress World’s Fair during the summer of 1933.[39] Likewise, Mrs. Warfield had worked for the University of Chicago in a campus cafeteria for twelve years and also worked for five years for the B. and G. Sandwich Shops.[40] When Jack’s Cafeteria opened in April of 1937, the focus was no longer on Asian American cuisine. Instead, the menu was described as, “Women cooks, using recipes that have been tested for generations in American homes will give you fine, delicious food that is rarely found in public eating places.”[41] The styling of the restaurant was Americana diner aesthetic, designed by Lima native Mrs. Florence E. Schell-Wolfers, an interior designer located in Chicago.[42] Jack’s Cafeteria was a huge hit and they sold approximately 250,000 meals in the first year of operation.[43] Harrison, Inoway’s business partner is quoted as saying, “Much of this success is due to the fact that Jack Inoway has been favorably associated with Lima restaurant business for so many years.”[44] Jack’s Cafeteria was Inoway’s final restaurant and the most well-known today.
Along with running several restaurants, Inoway had a few other ventures during his life. He created and patented a baseball board game during the 1920s.[45] A newspaper described how the game worked, “The game resembles baseball and can accomplish 43 plays. It is played on a board with small loops. It is called the American indoor pastime.”[46] , The Lima Play-Ball Manufacturing Company was formed to sell the game.[47] It hit the market in February of 1926.[48] It was remarked to be a game played by vaudeville performers while entertaining in Lima.[49] Likewise, it was heralded as a popular Christmas gift that December, having sold more than 200 boards.[50] Inoway was also connected to the International Brotherhood of Magicians, who for several years in a row held a parade and conference in Lima.[51] He was on the committee for the event and helped create the parade in 1929 with 150 floats.[52] Inoway is not only noteworthy for his restaurants, but also for the things he was involved with in the community and his other businesses.
Inoway’s happy and successful life in Lima came to a crashing halt in 1941 with the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Fear of Japanese-Americans popped up literally overnight in the United States. The day after Pearl Harbor, federal agents came to Jack’s Cafeteria, took the day’s receipts, and questioned Inoway and his business partner Harrison until 10 a.m. the next day.[53] Because of Inoway’s reputation and obviously having done nothing wrong, he was given a completely clean slate by the federal agents.[54] Jack’s Cafeteria was closed for a few days, and all the money was taken to be audited by the U. S. Treasury Department.[55] Then it was granted a temporary license by the treasury department, with all funds still being managed by the department.[56] As a “precaution” Inoway was put under house arrest,[57] and on December 31, 1941 Inoway made it known he would sell his interests in Jack’s Cafeteria to Harrison.[58] That transfer was made on January 17, 1942; thus, Inoway lost ownership of his very own cafeteria.[59] At this time, the majority of Japanese-Americans were being brought to internment camps in the western states.[60] However, because of his reputation and because the federal agents gave him a clean slate, Inoway and his family were kept on house arrest in Lima.[61] A very sad outcome of Inoway’s restaurant career.
Inoway’s death came not long after losing his business. Ever since giving up his interests in Jack’s Cafeteria, Inoway had hoped to once more re-enlist in the United States’ military.[62] In one of Inoway’s obituaries it was stated that he had been “due to report to Fort Benjamin Harrison, Ind., for training as an instructor in the bakers and cooks school.”[63] So, that dream had in part become a reality. However, in early September 1942, Inoway suffered a heart attack.[64] This was blamed in part on his love of vigorous exercise and also the mental difficulties of the last year of his life.[65] He would pass away on September 19, 1942, at the age of 53,[66] after being critically ill in St. Rita’s Hospital for over a week.[67] Inoway’s death was blamed on a broken heart by most citizens of Lima.[68] In addition, after Inoway’s passing and burial at Memorial Park Cemetery,[69] his wife and two children were sent to an internment camp in the western United States.[70] The Inoway family, like other Japanese American families, was done a disservice by the country they called home.
With all the sadness of Inoway’s final year of life, it seems especially important to highlight his legacy in Allen County. In 1938, Inoway purchased 80 Japanese Cherry Blossom Trees in a living memorial for his two children as well as in gratitude to his community in Allen County.[71] They were planted around Schoonover Lake while the park was being created.[72] Today those trees are memorialized by a plaque at the park that talks about Inoway’s contributions to the community.[73] Likewise, when the current Lima Post Office was opened in 1931, Inoway also donated trees to be planted there.[74] He was also a member of the local Kiwanis Club, as well as a huge sports fan, especially baseball.[75] During his time in Allen County, he served in several organizations supporting the country and community he called home. Therefore, in addition to being a well-known restaurateur in Allen County, Inoway was heavily involved in making his community a better place.
End Notes:
[1] Kim Kincaid, “Stereotyping at its Worst,” Lima News, December 14, 2005, in Inoway File at the Allen County Archive.
[2] “Jack Inoway,” Find a Grave, accessed August 12, 2025, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/116628570/jack-inoway.
[3] “Allen County Leaders,” Allen County Museum, accessed August 12, 2025, https://allencountymuseum.org/allen-county-leaders/.
[4] Kim Kincaid, “Stereotyping at its Worst,” Lima News, December 14, 2005, in Inoway File at the Allen County Archive.
[5] Marian W. Fletcher, “Social Life and Customs,” The 1976 History of Allen County, Ohio, ed. John R. Carnes, Unigraphic Inc., Evansville, Indiana, 1976, 605.
[6] Tom Fitzpatrick, “And His World Tumbled Down,” Lima News, January 11, 1959, accessed August 21, 2025, https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/7751/images/NEWS-OH-LI_NE.1959_01_11_0009.
[7] “Allen County Leaders,” Allen County Museum, accessed August 12, 2025, https://allencountymuseum.org/allen-county-leaders/.
[8] “Old ‘Sea Dogs’ Set to Swap Cruise Yarns During Parley,” Unknown Newspaper, June 8, 1941, in Inoway File at the Allen County Archive.
[9] “The Great White Fleet,” accessed August 27, 2025, https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/the-great-white-fleet.html.
[10] “The Great White Fleet,” accessed August 27, 2025, https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/the-great-white-fleet.html.
[11] “Allen County Leaders,” Allen County Museum, accessed August 12, 2025, https://allencountymuseum.org/allen-county-leaders/.
[12] “Café Man Opens Divorce Suit,” Lima News, May 25, 1924, in Inoway File at the Allen County Archive.
[13] “Three Towns Attend K. of C. Meeting Here,” Lima News, March 3, 1926, accessed August 21, 2025, https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/7751/images/NEWS-OH-LI_NE.1926_03_03_0002.
[14] “Inoway is Dead,” Unknown Newspaper, c. September 1942, in Inoway File at the Allen County Archive.
[15] “Death Thwarts Inoway’s Hope to Join Army,” Lima News, September 20, 1942, in Inoway File at the Allen County Archive.
[16] “Inoway is Dead,” Unknown Newspaper, c. September 1942, in Inoway File at the Allen County Archive
and Kim Kincaid, “Stereotyping at its Worst,” Lima News, December 14, 2005, in Inoway File at the Allen County Archive.
[17] “Jack Inoway Scores at the Orpheum,” Lima News, February 3, 1922, in Inoway File at the Allen County Archive.
[18] Ibid.
[19] “Fathers Will Stag Minstrel at PTA Meet,” Unknown Newspaper, November 11, 1941, in Inoway File at the Allen County Archive.
[20] “Death Thwarts Inoway’s Hope to Join Army,” Lima News, September 20, 1942, in Inoway File at the Allen County Archive.
[21] “Y.M.C.A. Cafeteria Ad,” Lima News, June 15, 1919, in Inoway File at the Allen County Archive.
[22] “Y.M.C.A. Cafeteria Ad,” Lima News, June 15, 1919, in Inoway File at the Allen County Archive and Marian W. Fletcher, “Social Life and Customs,” The 1976 History of Allen County, Ohio, ed. John R. Carnes, Unigraphic Inc., Evansville, Indiana, 1976, 605.
[23] Greg Hoerston, “Elektron Apartments,” Lima News, in Inoway File at the Allen County Archive.
[24] “Jack Picks Up Western Ideas,” Lima Daily News, March 19, 1927, in Inoway File at the Allen County Archive.
[25] Greg Hoerston, “Elektron Apartments,” Lima News, in Inoway File at the Allen County Archive.
[26] Ibid.
[27] “Mew Company Takes Over Charley’s Coffee Shoppe,” Unknown Newspaper, April 26, 1923, in Inoway File at the Allen County Archive.
[28] Ibid.
[29] “Opening Announcement Jack and Frank’s Steak House,” Lima News, May 18, 1923, in Inoway File at the Allen County Archive.
[30] “Inoway Opens New Stag Café at Regal Club,” Lima News, March 30, 1930, Ancestry, accessed August 12, 2025, https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/7751/images/NEWS-OH-LI_NE.1930_03_30_0023.
[31] Ibid.
[32] Ibid.
[33] Ibid.
[34] Greg Hoerston, “Elektron Apartments,” Lima News, in Inoway File at the Allen County Archive.
[35] “New Cafeteria to be Opened by Jack Inoway Saturday in W. High-st,” Lima News, April 16, 1937, in Inoway File at the Allen County Archive.
[36] Ibid.
[37] “New Cafeteria to be Opened by Jack Inoway Saturday in W. High-st,” Lima News, April 16, 1937, in Inoway File at the Allen County Archive and “Death Thwarts Inoway’s Hope to Join Army,” Lima News, September 20, 1942, in Inoway File at the Allen County Archive.
[38] “New Cafeteria to be Opened by Jack Inoway Saturday in W. High-st,” Lima News, April 16, 1937, in Inoway File at the Allen County Archive.
[39] Ibid.
[40] Ibid.
[41] “Opening Jack’s Cafeteria,” The Lima News, April 16, 1937, in Inoway File at the Allen County Archive.
[42] “New Cafeteria to be Opened by Jack Inoway Saturday in W. High-st,” Lima News, April 16, 1937, in Inoway File at the Allen County Archive.
[43] “Jack’s to Hold First Birthday Jubilee Sunday,” Lima News, April 17, 1938, accessed August 21, 2025, https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/7751/images/NEWS-OH-LI_NE.1938_04_17_0015.
[44] Ibid.
[45] “Play-Ball Game Will be Sold all Over the U.S.,” Lima Republican-Gazette, January 31, 1926, in Inoway File at the Allen County Archive.
[46] Ibid.
[47] Ibid.
[48] Ibid.
[49] Ibid.
[50] “Play Ball Games, Made in Lima, Real Popular,” Lima News, December 20, 1925, in Inoway File at the Allen County Archive.
[51] “Great Parade to be Feature of Convention,” Lima News, May 5, 1929, accessed August 21, 2025, https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/7751/images/NEWS-OH-LI_NE.1929_05_05_0002.
[52] Ibid.
[53] Kim Kincaid, “Another Side of the War’s Horror in Lima,” Lima News, May 8, 1996, in Inoway File at the Allen County Archive.
[54] Amy Falk, “Inoway Given a Clean Slate,” Lima News, December 10, 1941, in Inoway File at the Allen County Archive.
[55] “Cafeteria to be Reopened on Thursday,” Lima News, December 10, 1941, in Inoway File at the Allen County Archive.
[56] Ibid.
[57] Marian W. Fletcher, “Social Life and Customs,” The 1976 History of Allen County, Ohio, ed. John R. Carnes, Unigraphic Inc., Evansville, Indiana, 1976, 605.
[58] “A Statement About Jack’s Cafeteria,” Unknown Newspaper, c. January 1942, in Inoway File at the Allen County Archive.
[59] Ibid.
[60] Kim Kincaid, “Another Side of the War’s Horror in Lima,” Lima News, May 8, 1996, in Inoway File at the Allen County Archive.
[61] Ibid.
[62] Amy Falk, “Inoway Given a Clean Slate,” Lima News, December 10, 1941, in Inoway File at the Allen County Archive.
[63] “Death Thwarts Inoway’s Hope to Join Army,” Lima News, September 20, 1942, in Inoway File at the Allen County Archive.
[64] Ibid.
[65] Ibid.
[66] “Jack Inoway,” Find a Grave, accessed August 12, 2025, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/116628570/jack-inoway.
[67] “Inoway is Dead,” Unknown Newspaper, c. September 1942, in Inoway File at the Allen County Archive.
[68] Marian W. Fletcher, “Social Life and Customs,” The 1976 History of Allen County, Ohio, ed. John R. Carnes, Unigraphic Inc., Evansville, Indiana, 1976, 605.
[69] “Jack Inoway,” Find a Grave, accessed August 12, 2025, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/116628570/jack-inoway.
[70] “Allen County Leaders,” Allen County Museum, accessed August 12, 2025, https://allencountymuseum.org/allen-county-leaders/.
[71] Ibid.
[72] Ibid.
[73] Ibid.
[74] “Looking at Lima,” Lima News, May 10, 1951, accessed August 21, 2025, https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/7751/images/NEWS-OH-LI_NE.1951_05_10_0002.
[75] Kim Kincaid, “Another Side of the War’s Horror in Lima,” Lima News, May 8, 1996, in Inoway File at the Allen County Archive.
Photo Credit:
“U.S.S. Connecticut,” c. 1907, LC-DIG-det-4a15940, accessed September 30, 2025, https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2016805807/.
“Where are you going my pretty maid?” “I’m going to Keith’s Vaudeville, Sir,” she said [graphic], W. J. Moragn & Co., accessed September 30, 2025, https://lccn.loc.gov/2014635708.
“B. F. Keith,” accessed September 30, 2025, https://scalar.usc.edu/works/birthofanindustry/bf-keith.
All other images came from the Allen County Archives.
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