Wild Bill Hickok comes to Joliet

JOLIET – Wild Bill Hickok is a legend of the Old West, and he’s coming to Joliet.

That would not have been too difficult for Hickok when he was alive, since he was a native of Illinois – something actor Walt Willey says many people don’t realize.

Neither did Willey, who will present “Wild Bill! An Evening with James Butler Hickok” at 2 p.m. Sunday at the Joliet Area Historical Museum, 204 N. Ottawa St.

Willey, an Illinois native himself and a star of the former soap opera “All My Children,” said he was driving into Troy Grove, Hickok’s birthplace, when he got a lesson in local history.

“I saw this sign, ‘Welcome to Troy Grove, Home of Wild Bill Hickok.’ I was floored,” he said.

Floored because he had grown up not far away in Ottawa and did not know that one of the Wild West figures he was so familiar with from his youth was a fellow Illinoisan.

Hickok was a gunfighter and a gambler – also a lawman. The card hand he held when shot dead – aces and eights – became known as the “Dead Man’s Hand.” That’s just one of many Wild West stories that have become ingrained into American culture because of Hickok’s life, Willey said.

But what many do not know about, he said, are Wild Bill’s roots in Illinois.

The show Willey will do in Joliet will be the first performance of a special edition of “Evening with James Butler Hickok” that tells of the legend’s not so legendary origins in Illinois.

Willey, best known for playing Jackson Montgomery on “All My Children” from 1987 to 2011, has done his Wild Bill Hickok performance since 2012. The Joliet show will have excerpts from the full show, he said. But he also wanted to focus on Hickok’s time in Illinois, especially since his days here are not a big part of the legend.

“He was one of the most famous Illinoisans and one of the biggest icons of the Old West to come from here,” Willey said.

Show tickets are $14 for museum members and $18 for nonmembers.

Mike Brick, development director at the Joliet Area Historical Museum, said there has been a big reaction to Willey’s appearance and not necessarily from those with an interest in gunslingers.

Brick said he has heard from many “All My Children” fans excited that Jackson Montgomery is coming to town.

Soap opera fans, as well those interested in the history of the American West, can meet and speak with Willey after the show, Brick said. Willey has assured the museum he will stick around for questions and photographs if people are interested after the show.

IF YOU GO

What: Walt Willey’s Wild Bill! An Evening with James Butler Hickok.

Where: Joliet Area Historical Museum, 204 N. Ottawa St., Joliet.

When: 2 p.m. Sunday. Doors open at 1:15 p.m.

How: Tickets at the door. Or, call 815-723-5201, Ext. 222. Online registration at www.jolietmuseum.org.

Cost: $14 for museum members. $18 for nonmembers.