Scott Joplin House

Scott Joplin House

The Scott Joplin House State Historic Site is located at 2658 Delmar Boulevard in St. Louis, Missouri. It preserves the Scott Joplin Residence, the home of composer Scott Joplin from 1901 to 1903.

Scott Joplin was "the King of Ragtime Writers," a composer who elevated "banjo piano playing," a lowly entertainment associated with saloons and brothels, into an American art form loved by millions.

Born in Texas in either 1867 or 1868, Joplin was raised in Texarkana, the son of a laborer and former slave. As a child, Joplin taught himself piano on an instrument belonging to a white family that granted him access to it, and ultimately studied with a local, German-born teacher who introduced Joplin to classical music.

Joplin attended high school in Sedalia, MO, a town that would serve as Joplin's home base during his most prosperous years.

The house and its surroundings are maintained by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources as a state historic site.

The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1976.