After eight years in the basement of the historic Redstone Building (2nd and Main streets), and a full year of being closed, the relocated Bix Beiderbecke Museum is opening briefly tonight and Saturday for a sneak preview, at its new home close by, 112 W. 2nd St., Davenport.
Opening in 2017 in the basement of the then-River Music Experience (today’s Common Chord), the Bix Museum is the premier location in the Quad Cities to learn about the life and legacy of legendary Davenport native Bix Beiderbecke (1903-1931). The museum is accompanied by the most extensive archive resource on Bix in the world and serves to preserve and teach that knowledge to future generations.
One year ago, the Bix Museum (which over the years had experienced flooding at the old space) closed to begin the lengthy task of relocating to a new home and after a $100,000 renovation (in space across the street formerly occupied by Junior Achievement), the museum in process is opening this weekend from 5 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. today (for the first Common Chord Live @ Five block party) and then 10 a.m.-2 p.m. on Saturday, June 6th, before formally opening for the Bix 7 race weekend in July.
They originally planned to be open last summer, after construction started in early March 2025.
“About halfway through June, we had an HVAC part that they needed, and that was on back order for a month,” Bix Museum executive director Nate Kraft said Friday, June 5. “So that pushed us back into August and then we had just had so many issues.” That included delays in putting in new restrooms.
For the 2025 Bix Beiderbecke Memorial Jazz Festival (at Rhythm City Casino Event Center), they displayed more instruments from the collection than usual.
“There was people that were like, this is my first festival and I wanted to see the museum. They had never been to Davenport before, and so they were real bummed they couldn't see it,” Kraft said.
“We still had like a pop-up gallery. So we had the space in here, open in the lobby. So people during the festival could still come down and see the space. And then they'd walk in here and half the ceiling still missing. And, you know, they could see that it's a construction zone all the way back here.”
“I think it probably helped with at least there might be some people who have passed it a few times and been kind of like, I wonder when they're gonna open, you know,” he said. “So we're hoping that might lead to more people coming in now that we're finally kind of opening up.”
Though the museum has moved out of the Common Chord building, the Bix Society has formally merged with Common Chord, to operate under their umbrella.
“There's always been kind of that close intermingling where we've been the tenants of Common Chord. But the big thing with the society is they were all volunteer run and these were just people that loved Bix and they wanted to put on a jazz festival,” Kraft said.
“None of them have professional experience with running things. They're just doing it. Whereas Common Chord has. They have about a dozen employees and concerts is their bread and butter.
“They've been able to successfully kind of grow the music scene in the Quad Cities. And honestly, it seems like the best option is, they have the resources,” he said. “Common Chord had in the past offered assistance with the festival. So the last number of years, they were the ones helping set up the stage and, and kind of get a lot of the things set up just because they needed more manpower, a bit younger manpower.”
“It's a lot of work for volunteers. So I really do see that the commingling will be a benefit,” Kraft added. “It kind of sucks that it's not under its own umbrella anymore, but honestly, if they had to choose between folding or merging with someone, I'm glad they picked Common Chord. I mean, it's one of those things where we've had such a great relationship with them.”
A larger, more accessible location
The new spot also helps the museum be more visible, at street level.
“I've had people that are, like, actively looking for the museum. They can't find us,” Kraft said of the old spot. “I think the fact that we're now visible, I mean, hopefully we'll see it with the (Bix 7) race this year. Last year it rained, so there wasn't too many people outside during the race that weekend, outside of the runners, obviously.”
“Second Street is where everyone, once they're done racing and done seeing, at the end of the race, they're told to walk down 2nd Street to go find their car, because they're all parked down River Drive somewhere. So we have hundreds of people that weekend, maybe thousands, that walk down 2nd Street and, we put a sign out, hey, museum's open.”
“They're going to see Bix's name, they're going to see photos of him and stuff. And they're going to kind of go, oh, there's a museum,” Kraft said. “I'm sure people have come down the street so many times and have seen nothing going on in this building. And now that things are happening and the first time since Junior Achievement was here, this building is occupied, or at least this part of the building.”
The new museum is a bit larger – now 2,300 square feet, from 1,600 square feet, the new space mostly devoted to the new lobby, and some additional exhibit space, with a higher ceiling. Kraft said they’re still using the lower level at Redstone Building for storage and office space.
One of the new pieces on display is a trombone owned by the great jazz trombonist Miff Mole (1898-1961), who played with Bix.
“One of the support beams was sitting right here where this space is now. We don't have these big beams that go through the middle of the building or the space,” Kraft said. “So now this is wide open. We'll eventually be getting a case similar to one of the other trombone case for it. But now we can have it displayed here in the museum. Whereas the old space, if we weren't moving, it'd be really hard to fit it where we want to fit it.
“And specifically, the reason why Miff’s trombone's here is because he played with Red Nichols quite often. And we have Red Nichols’s cornet,” he added. “So it works perfectly having these two together in this space rather than trying to find a different location for the trombone.”
The lobby will be staffed by volunteers, and they’ll have Bix-related merchandise for sale, including T-shirts, CDs, and calendars with QC Bix activities noted. There’s a Bix store on the museum website, where you also can order the items.
The total renovation cost is $100,000, and the museum has raised $90,000 through donations and grants, and has not had to pay rent until this month, Kraft said, though they’ve been leasing since November 2024.
New admission charge
While the old museum was open by donation only, they now will charge admission.
Admission this weekend is $5 for adults and FREE for children. After that, admissions will become $7 adults; $5 seniors, students, children 5-17; and free for children under 5, museum members, first responders, active-duty military, and veterans.
The museum will be open by appointment and select hours through the rest of June with plans to have full opening hours by Bix Weekend July 24th so that they have time to settle in to the space and continue to move in.
This will be the first time they’ve charged admission, which will be free for museum members (of which there are just about 50, starting at $25 per year).
“I think now that with us opening and stuff, and now that we have an admission, there's more of a reason to become a member because membership starts at $25 and you get a shirt or calendar for signing up,” Kraft said. “Basically just for visiting the museum, the membership is kind of paid for. You know, it basically I would say that like a family of five and they came in, it's probably about the same to get a membership as your trip with everything you get.”
“It helps us support us long term. But that's kind of how we're viewing it is we're really going to try to get people to join and become longtime supporters,” he added. “Hopefully we can bring them back. And we're always adding things to the museum. We're always growing the collection.”
That includes most of the Bix-related items owned by the late Bill Donahoe, who passed away in 2011, and his daughters contacted the museum to donate after his house was sold a couple years ago, Kraft said. That includes many records and a large red nylon banner for Donahoe’s Bix Beiderbecke Memorial Jazz Band, which will be displayed in the museum lobby.
Donahoe (of New Jersey) became a passionate fan of the legendary cornetist – from 1965 to 1982, he and his wife hosted gatherings known as Bix Beiderbecke Memorial Stomps at their home, attracting 200 musicians, friends and jazz fans.
In 1971, the 40th anniversary of Bix's death, Donahoe (who played washboard) and several notable musicians came to Davenport for “One Time Only” to play, in tribute, at Bix's grave at Oakdale Memorial Gardens. It spawned the Bix Beiderbecke Memorial Jazz Band and the Bix Beiderbecke Memorial Society, the Bix jazz fest and the annual Bix 7 Road Race.
Donahoe’s band's last appearance at the Bix Jazz Festival was in 2003, marking the 100th anniversary of Bix's birth, and was known as “One More Time."
The museum’s annual budget is about $60,000, mainly funded through private donations, Kraft said; his full-time job is working maintenance for St. Paul the Apostle School in Davenport.
Common Chord is working to move the Redstone Room to the ground floor, in the former Garrison restaurant space, to open at the end of August. Kraft would like to work with them to schedule more jazz concerts there throughout the year.
On Bix 7 Saturday, the race will have a Josh Duffee jazz concert in the courtyard after the race, he noted.
“The plan is to have more jazz throughout the year,” apart from the Bix jazz fest, Kraft said. “They’d have the festival and then they would maybe sponsor a show elsewhere during the year. But mostly it was festival, then it's gone and they kind of go dormant for the rest of the year. But now they're really trying to make it a year-round thing.”
The museum will have the bulk of the displays finished, but some things are still being worked on as Kraft said they have new displays to create and some changes to make to the previous exhibit layout.
The museum is also looking for volunteers to occupy its welcome desk and help with open hours so they can be staffed regularly all week. They will have more details to come about a grand opening event date.
The best way to learn about our open hours is to follow the museum Facebook page, where they will post on days they are open for regular hours without appointment or calling and listening to the voicemail message that will be updated weekly with planned open hours.
Otherwise, schedule an appointment by emailing at director@bixmuseum.org or calling/texting 563-293-4046. To see more museum photos, click the gallery below.
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