Tucket away in a remote part of Delmar Blvd just outside of Downtown stands the home of Scott Joplin, legendary ragtime pianist. The house is a Missouri State Historic Park and is open between March and October. I went in April with my friend Nay’Chelle. After watching a short video about Scott and the house, our tour guide led us through the upstairs of the house. Because the house changed ownership multiple times since Joplin lived it in, very few of the original pieces were left. However, it was completely furnished by time-period pieces.
The best part of the house was the two auto-play pianos equipped with about 100 Joplin rags. To play a song, we simply put the music scroll into the piano and moved the foot pedals. Playing songs is quite a workout for the calves, so I could only do about 3. While touring the house takes only about 30 minutes, it is very cool to a see a lesser known part of St. Louis history.