Buffalo Bill Museum has new director

July 2024 · 3 minute read

Rita Farro is the new executive director of LeClaire’s Buffalo Bill Museum, taking over the day-to-day duties of the facility. She succeeds Bob Schiffke, who is now the museum’s executive director emeritus.

Farro is just the fourth leader of the regional museum and popular LeClaire tourist attraction (199 N. Front Street on the levee in LeClaire) that was founded by the town’s women’s club in 1957.

Otto Ewoldt served as the museum’s first executive director for more than 30 years before Mary Ahlgren succeeded him. Schiffke became executive director in 2010, with Farro assuming the position in late 2023.

“The Buffalo Bill Museum is a quirky place, and you just fall in love with it,” Farro said in a recent museum release. “One of my favorite exhibits is the treadmill that was run by a dog that made butter. And we have an actual tugboat! The Lone Star is so unique – and it’s amazing that visitors can climb aboard and explore the crew quarters, the pilot house, etc.”

In 1967, Farro was a passenger on the Lone Star as it made its final voyage to LeClaire. Her father, Glenn Little, a local businessman, and Glen Suiter, a local banker, were instrumental in making the deal to bring the Lone Star, the last working wood-hulled boat on the Mississippi River, to LeClaire.

Her brother, Calvin, was on the crew that worked to dry-dock the boat, which then braved the outdoor elements for more than 30 years. In 2008, the Buffalo Bill Museum raised almost $1 million to add the glass building that now protects the Lone Star.

Born and raised in Princeton, Iowa, Farro became involved in the sewing industry. She owned a fabric store and became a sewing machine dealer. Along the way, she wrote several books and launched a successful career as a professional speaker.

For 10 years, Farro worked as marketing director for the Sewing & Stitchery Expo in Puyallup, Washington – the largest consumer sewing show in the U.S.

“On paper, my experience in the sewing industry doesn’t seem like a good fit to become the executive director of a regional history museum,” she said in the Buffalo Bill release. “But I believe people often end up in exactly the right place at the right time. And, for me, the Buffalo Bill Museum is where I’m supposed to be. The future is bright. We have some very exciting things happening and I’m thrilled to be a part of the next chapter.”

Upcoming museum events include breakfast at Happy Joe’s with Buffalo Bill (9-11 a.m.), at 119 N. Cody Road, and a birthday party for him at the museum, noon-4 p.m., both on Feb. 25, 2024.

In attendance for the events is Wayne Rettig, a Buffalo Bill impersonator from Wisconsin. The Buffalo Bill Birthday Party will be the official launch for the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show coming to LeClaire on June 29 & 30, 2024. 

William F. (“Buffalo Bill”) Cody was born Feb. 26, 1846, in a log cabin on a farm about two miles west of LeClaire, and his family lived in LeClaire until 1853.

February 25, 2024, details:

The museum is open Tuesday to Saturday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Sundays from noon to 4. For more information, visit the museum website HERE.

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