LeClaire, Iowa: The Interpreter's Town

LeClaire, Iowa carries the name of Antoine LeClaire, a Metis interpreter born in seventeen ninety-seven to a French Canadian fur trader and a woman of Potawatomi ancestry. LeClaire grew up speaking French, Spanish, English, and more than a dozen Native languages, which made him indispensable at treaty negotiations across the upper Mississippi. When the Black Hawk War ended in eighteen thirty-two, the Sauk and Fox peoples granted LeClaire three parcels of land in recognition of his service.

One parcel sat at the head of the Rock Island Rapids, and there LeClaire established this town. It also happens to be the birthplace of William Frederick Cody, born here on February twenty-sixth, eighteen forty-six. The family moved away before young Bill was a year old, but the town kept its connection to the man who would become Buffalo Bill.

A museum on the Mississippi riverfront celebrates both legacies today.