Scott Joplin State Historic Site

Today, Scott Joplin is revered as the King of Ragtime, a winner of the Pulitzer Prize for his compositions, one of the giants of American music. But in 1900, when he and his new bride, Belle, moved into an apartment on what’s now Delmar, Joplin was just a moderately successful composer. The Scott Joplin State Historic Site remembers those years Scott Joplin spent in St. Louis.

Joplin lived in the building at 2658A Delmar Blvd. (then Morgan Street in an integrated blue-collar neighborhood) until 1903. Joplin continued in St. Louis until 1907, when he left to try to make his fortune in New York City. The apartment has been restored to how it could have looked in 1902, complete with gas lighting. While Joplin’s effects are long gone, period furniture and accessories recreate the era. Other rooms in the building recount Joplin’s life and celebrate his music. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. It has also been named a U.S. National Historic Landmark.

One of the house’s treasures is a piano manufactured in 1904 by the company that published three of Joplin’s musical compositions, T. Bahnsen Manufacturing Co. In an era before television, radio or even the widespread use of the Victrola, average folks bought their music in the form of printed sheet music. While most of Bahnsen’s pianos were made in Chicago, the Scott Joplin House has one of the few that were actually made in St. Louis. Other displays trace the origins and development of ragtime.

You can also listen to music by Joplin and his contemporaries on player piano rolls at the Scott Joplin House — including some cut by Joplin himself! Amazingly enough, the public is allowed to play on the piano, as well.

Joplin’s time in the house weren’t happy ones. His infant daughter died while only a few months old, and Mr. and Mrs. Joplin were ill suited. Belle had no interest in music even though her husband and brother — Joplin’s collaborator, Scott Hayden — were both composers and ragtime enthusiasts. The couple divorced in 1903. Even so, Joplin produced some of his finest work while living at that house on what was then Morgan Street: “The Entertainer,” “Elite Syncopations,” “March Majestic” and “The Ragtime Dance.” He even wrote an opera during that time, A Guest of Honor, although, sadly, the score is lost.

HelloSaintLouis Tip: The Scott Joplin State Historic Site is open Tuesday through Saturday, and, from March through October, the house is open Monday through Saturday. The hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The house is closed altogether from November through January. Tours, led every hour, cost $4 for adults, $2.50 for children aged 6–12 and free for those 5 and younger. Groups of 15 or more get $1 off of admission; however, reservations must be made at least a week in advance by calling (314) 340–5790.

- by Ivonne Rovira, Saint Louis Reporter for HelloMetro  (Click to leave a message)

Ivonne Rovira

A graduate of the prestigious Columbia University School of Journalism in New York City, Ivonne Rovira worked as a reporter for the Miami News, The Miami Herald and The Associated Press. She has written articles for The National Catholic Reporter and The Courier-Journal. For more than 15 years, Ivonne wrote and edited articles aimed at middle-school children.