Scott oplin House State Historic Site 2658 Delmar Blvd, St. Louis SCOTT JOPLIN WAS THE KING OF RAGTIME, and John S. Stark proclaimed him so. Between them, a composer and his publisher, they had a major hand in the direction and sound of American music in the first decades of the twentieth centu y. In 1894 he was living in Sedalia, where he played cornet in the Queen City Cornet Band, led his own six-piece dance band, and still occasionally toured with the Texas Medley vocal group. But he made his mark by playing piano at the 400 Club and Maple Leaf Club, two black social clubs in town where he continued to hone his skills in the free-flowing, improvisational, artistic expression of black musicians from the minstrel tradition. He also attended the George R. Smith College for Negroes, learning the formal structure of classical music and accurate musical notation, so that he could record on paper the African American rhythms he had learned. Joplin eventually became the leader in a new, syncopated musical genre that was becoming a national sensation—ragtime. Joplin’s composition, the “Maple Leaf Rag,” became immensely popular and boosted both Joplin and his publisher’s prospects. John S. Stark had been an ice cream maker and a piano and organ salesman, and he had taken over a failing music-publishing house in Sedalia. Riding on the success of “Maple Leaf,” Stark relocated the publishing company to St. Louis, and Scott Joplin soon followed. Musical genius or not, as a black man Joplin had limited options for housing in turn-of-the-century St. Louis. The building he and his new bride, Belle, moved into at 2658A Morgan, now Delmar Boulevard, had in the mid-1800s been part of a prosperous At the turn of the twentieth century, Scott Joplin and his wife moved into a second floor flat of this building. It is the last surviving structure known to have been associated with Joplin. Peter Ciro
German neighborhood, but by 1900, most German families had moved to neighborhoods farther west. The house had been built as a duplex but later had been converted into a four-flat. Joplin had moved into a bustling neighborhood of the working poor: waiters, janitors, porters, fi emen, laborers, and, yes, musicians. A few of the original German families were still there, along with the most recent poor white immigrants to the city, but the district had become increasingly black. Today, the ground floor contains exhibits explaining the history of the house, its restoration, and the neighborhood. On the second floor of the west unit is a small archive room. On the east side are more exhibits about Joplin and his music and a room housing an authentic, operating player piano and a collection of piano rolls, some actually cut by Joplin. Visitors can pass through an opening in the thin boarding that had enclosed the staircase and climb the stairs into a world of turn-of-the-century St. Louis. Lit only with gaslights, the flat where Scott and his new wife, Belle, set up housekeeping is small, with a parlor, a bedroom, and a small kitchen. The flat is provided with period furnishings, and it seems only right that the flat has a piano, but it isn’t known for certain if Joplin was able to afford his own at this time. Today, the Scott Joplin State Historic Site attracts a variety of visitors, from local school groups learning about life and music in early 1900s St. Louis to out-of-town musical groups to syncopation aficion dos, who come from across the world to pay homage to “the king of ragtime.” The site includes the Rosebud Cafe, a reconstructed turn-of-the-century bar and gaming club. It also pays tribute to the creativity and talent of a gifted musician who called Missouri home, and it celebrates the many rich African American contributions to Missouri’s cultural history. *
“We mean to advertise these as classic rags, and we mean just what we say. They have lifted ragtime from its low estate and lined it up with Beethoven and Bach.”—John Stark, Publisher 4 acres St. Louis
[47] Missouri State Parks
Illiniwek-KatyTrail.indd 47
2/6/17 9:53 AM