Gen. Thomas L. Kane hasn’t been around to celebrate a birthday in 135 years.
But for the past several years, residents of his namesake borough of Kane have taken on the job as party planners.
This year’s party, the third such celebration, will be held at 6 p.m. Jan. 26 at the Thomas L. Kane Memorial Chapel on Chestnut Street.
The Kane Historic Preservation Society held the first birthday party in 2015, less than a year after the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints gifted the chapel to the society in 2014.
Gen. Kane, who was born Jan. 27, 1822, and died Dec. 26, 1883, built the structure in 1878. The structure was listed on the National Register of Historic Places a hundred years later in 1978.
This year’s celebration includes a fundraiser for a project to honor another famous Kane resident: Dr. Edward H. McCleery.
“Proceeds from the fundraising dinner and raffle will assist in a full taxidermy mount of a McCleery Lobo Wolf that Dan Swanson from Ludlow is working on with his national organization,” said Dick Bly, chairman of the Kane Historic Preservation Society.
McCleery made a name for himself through his preservation efforts of the endangered wolf, raising them for decades on a 50-acre park he built in Kane.
According to Bly, the mount will be unveiled in June at the McCleery Discovery Center during Reunion Weekend. The recently opened McCleery Discovery Center is located at the Kane Depot.
“This is the first time that a full mount of a McCleery wolf has ever been completed,” he said.
A summer barbecue menu will be offered including pulled pork, hamburgers, hot dogs and “all the trimmings,” according to the Kane Historic Preservation Society. Dinner will begin at 6 p.m.
A Chinese auction will be held during dinner on a variety of items provided by the historic society, ArtWorks at the Depot, the Pittsburgh Penguins and local merchants.
Local band Toucan Jam will perform after dinner.
Dinner tickets are limited to 90 seats. Tickets can be purchased at SMP and Kane Lumber and Fuel.
Raffle tickets are now available around town for Pittsburgh Penguins items including a signed jersey from Kris Letang, two tickets to a hockey game, a ladies large Penguins sport jacket and wooden keepsake box from Wendell August forge featuring an engraved stainless steel section from the former Civic Arena.
Winners will be picked after dinner, and the proceeds will go toward the lobo wolf taxidermy mount.
Gen. Kane is perhaps best known for putting together the 42nd Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, aka the Bucktails, in McKean County during the Civil War. During his military service, he suffered a face wound in 1861 at the Battle of Dranesville, a leg wound in 1862 in the Shenandoah Valley and fell from a horse in 1863 into the Rapidan River and came down with pneumonia. He was also captured at one point by the Confederates.
Later, as president of the New York, Lake Erie & Western Coal Railroad, Kane helped to build the original Kinzua Viaduct.
