Buffalo Bill Cody birthday celebrated in LeClaire

LECLAIRE, Iowa (KWQC) - The Buffalo Bill Cody Museum held a birthday celebration Sunday for the LeClaire native himself.

Cody was born in LeClaire, February 26, 1846, before moving to Kansas.

The event was open to the public from noon until 4:30 p.m. admission was free and the museum provided refreshments and live music.

Guests poured into the Buffalo Bill Museum Sunday in LeClaire to celebrate the birthday of this historical figure and what his legacy means to the community.

“I like to think family, Robert Swearingian, Peoria, Ill. said. “He was a good guy throughout history, and so that is just, I think it’s a wonderful thing and I don’t think we study him enough.”

Executive Director of the museum Robert Schiffke tells us how he helps in keeping the history of Buffalo Bill and the city of LeClaire alive.

“I spend a lot of my time fixing up displays and so forth that people I hope will enjoy and learn from about what Buffalo Bill does and what LeClaire is about, Schiffke said. “And I think that’s important if you come to LeClaire, you come, I think to know something about LeClaire.”

It’s been 106 years since Buffalo Bill passed and people continue to speak of the connection they have with him.

“We get people come in all the time and they talk to us about that,” Steven Fye, President of Museum Board said. “That they have relatives or somebody who knew Buffalo Bill, or somebody was related to Buffalo Bill. We actually, last year we had the Buffalo Bill reunion here, the family reunion.”

On February 26, especially in LeClaire Iowa one man will always be remembered...

“Buffalo Bill, when you still, I can sit down many times and listen to the movies about him that they run, “Swearingian said. “It’s just you learn something all the time.”

Buffalo Bill Cody passed away in Denver, Colorado on January 10, 1917.

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