Styles of Jazz: Ragtime

Dates in the Development of Ragtime

1848 Blackface minstrels become popular.
1868 Scott Joplin born in Texarkana, Texas.
1882 Scott Joplin strikes out on his own after the death of his mother.
1885 Jelly Roll Morton born in New Orleans. John Stark and Son music store founded.
1886 James Scott born in Neosho, Missouri.
1887 Joseph Lamb born in Montclair, New Jersey.
1893 Chicago World's Fair. Ragtime players converge on Chicago.
1894 Scott Joplin first arrives in Sedalia, MO, home of the Maple Leaf Club.
1895 Ben Harney's You've Been a Good Old Wagon published.
1896 Cakewalk gains popularity, 'Coon songs continue to be popular. Ben Harney popularizes ragtime in New York City.
1897 (January) William Krell's Mississippi Rag published. (December) Tom Turpin's Harlem Rag published.
1899 (March) Scott Joplin's first published rag: Original Rags. (September) Joplin's Maple Leaf Rag, published in honor of the Maple Leaf Club in Sedalia, MO by John Stark and Son, sells hundreds of thousands of copies over the next ten years.
1900 John Stark and Son moves from Sedalia to St. Louis.
1902 Scott Joplin's The Entertainer published.
1903 The first ragtime opera, A Guest of Honor by Scott Joplin, is performed in St. Louis.
1904 National Ragtime Contest held at St. Louis World's Fair.
1905 John Stark and Son moves to New York City.
1907 Scott Joplin moves to New York.
1911 Scott Joplin publishes Treemonisha, another ragtime opera. John Stark and Son returns to St. Louis, trampled by the commercialism of the East.
1912 Mrs. William Stark (Carrie Bruggeman) composes They Gotta Quit Kickin' My Dawg Around for Champ Clark's hopeful but ultimately unsuccessful presidential campaign. An immediate hit, its popularity collapses as Clark's campaign died at the Republican convention.
1917 Scott Joplin dies. Jazz waxes as ragtime wanes.
1935 John Stark and Son moves printing plant, concentrates on trade printing. Best of music line sold to Melrose Bros., Chicago. Many unpublished Joplin works lost or destroyed.
1938 Ben Harney, James Scott die. Jelly Roll Morton records for the Library of Congress Archives.
1941 Jelly Roll Morton dies. Brief ragtime revival begins.
1960 Joseph Francis Lamb dies, having long before fulfilled his dream of becoming a renowned ragtime composer.
1973 Scott Joplin's The Entertainer initiates a ragtime revival as the theme to the movie The Sting.