In early June, on my way home from the Scott Joplin Ragtime Festival, I visited the Joplin House State Historic Site, the only place in St. Louis where Joplin was known to have lived. And he was there for only two years, at most.
I had been to the house once before, in 2007, but knowing now much more about Joplin and ragtime in general, I felt it was time for a return visit. And my 2007 visit was on Memorial Day, so the site might have been closed. I did not recall anything about the interior, but I did have a recollection of what it looked like from the outside.
The house is at 2658 Delmar Boulevard, but the street was named Morgan in Joplin’s day. It’s in what was then a racially mixed neighborhood, much more densely populated than now. But it was not a slum; rents were generally in the middle range. Joplin at that time was making enough money to afford to live there. St. Louis in the 1900 census had a population of 575,000, making it the fourth largest city in the country.
As time went by and the area, as well as a significant part of St. Louis, changed for the worse, the house fell into disrepair. In the 1970s a non-profit local group, knowing its historical importance, made an attempt to restore it. They bought the property from the city for the price of the delinquent taxes. They eventually obtained enough grants to go to work, but because of its age and lack of documentation as to construction and maintenance, they found it a bigger fixer-upper than they realized. The state took it over and resumed the restoration and designated it a historic site. The house opened to the public in the late 1990s. The state also owns other nearby property, and one parcel across the street is used for site-related events.
None of the furnishings are known to have been owned by Joplin, but they are all period-correct. In what is now the “lobby” is a T. Bahnsen piano, one of the few they made in St. Louis; their main production was in Chicago. This firm also published three Joplin compositions: Bethena, Binks’ Waltz, and Sarah Dear.
Just up the street, on the corner of Beaumont, is a reconstruction of the Rosebud Cafe, which in Joplin’s day was owned by ragtime composer Tom Turpin. The original was not at that site but was in the neighborhood. There are now live jazz events there.
Joplin supposedly rented a second-floor apartment whose entrance was 2658A, on the left side of the building as you face it. But exactly how much space he occupied is uncertain. That side of the house had been subdivided at various times into several dwelling units by the addition of doors to separate the rooms. Joplin theoretically could have had only one small room, although his wife Lottie is now known to have been there with him. Joplin was earning a decent living from music sales but he also had private piano students. To round out the furnishings, one back room upstairs has three pianos, two of which are players. There are rolls, mostly by QRS, of some of his pieces.
Although there remain many unknowns about Joplin’s tenure in St. Louis, as well as many aspects of his life, this site does a good job of informing visitors of his contributions to the ragtime genre. Research about Joplin is still being done by scholars such as Dr. Ed Berlin and others. Even Ed, who’s delved more deeply into Joplin than perhaps anyone else, is still finding new information, or evidence to disprove what had previously been believed.
The House is open daily except Sunday from 10 to 4. Admission to the 45-minute guided tour is $6. The tour begins with a 15-minute video chronicling Joplin’s life; it is designed for those who have little or no familiarity with him. I recommend a visit if you find yourself in St. Louis. There is ample free parking on the street.
Bill Hoffman is a travel writer, an avid jazz fan and a supporter of musicians keeping traditional jazz alive in performance. He is the concert booker for the Tri-State Jazz Society in greater Philadelphia. Bill lives in Lancaster, PA. He is the author of Going Dutch: A Visitors Guide to the Pennsylvania Dutch Country, Unique and Unusual Places in the Mid-Atlantic Region, and The New York Bicycle Touring Guide. Bill lives in Lancaster, PA.
