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St. Louis Regional history comes alive in this joint production by KDHX and the Missouri Historical Society. Stories of our past are connected with the present in these well researched and entertaining short presentations about the people, places, and events that have shaped who we are and who we are becoming. 

Oct 16, 2023

For music lovers who came through St. Louis in the early 20th century, there was only one place in town to go, Tom Turpin’s Rosebud Cafe. This sprawling bar and nightclub was located on Market Street in the heart of the Chestnut Valley, a historic African American entertainment and gambling district. Just press play to hear the whole story ------

Click on search links to explore episodes with related content: Adam Kloppe, Music, Black History, Arts, Entertainment, and Culture, Pastimes and Leisure, Landmark Locations, Business, Alcohol, Food, People of Note, ------

Podcast Transcript: I'm Adam Kloppe, Researcher at the Missouri History Museum and Here’s History on 88.1 KDHX. ------

For music lovers who came through St. Louis in the early 20th century, there was only one place in town to go, Tom Turpin’s Rosebud Cafe. This sprawling bar and nightclub was located on Market Street in the heart of the Chestnut Valley, a historic African American entertainment and gambling district. When the Rosebud opened in 1900, it quickly became one of the most popular establishments in the entire valley. It took up an entire city block and featured several bars, a gambling den, and hotel rooms. ------

But music lovers knew they had to push past these distractions and get to the wine room where they could usually find owner Tom Turpin. Turpin was a hard man to miss. He stood at over six feet tall, and weighed over 350 pounds. And in the wine room, he towered over a piano that he had specially installed on blocks so he could stand when he played. From that special piano and the Rosebud’s wine room, Turpin helped to popularize a musical style that would change the world. Turpin was one of the early masters of Ragtime, a syncopated musical style that many described as the first uniquely American kind of music. ------

Before he opened the Rosebud, Turpin was already recognized as an early pioneer of the musical form. He had perfected Ragtime in various brothels, bars, and saloons in St. Louis in the late 19th century, and became the first African American to publish a rag in 1897. When Turpin opened the Rosebud in 1900 it quickly became the epicenter of Ragtime. Legends of Ragtime, including Scott Joplin, Louis Chauvin and Joe Jordan, came to the Rosebud to play their music and learn from Turpin who took them in as a mentor and a friend. -------

Turpin also organized frequent Ragtime competitions at the Rosebud and invited the best Ragtime musicians from all over the country to participate. People from around the city and the region flocked to the Rosebud to hear these competitions, and take in the sounds and rhythms of Ragtime. Within a few years, Ragtime had become one of the most popular musical styles in the country. ------

However, the success of the Rosebud was also its downfall. As Ragtime became more popular, the musicians who played it moved on from St. Louis to brighter lights in cities like Chicago and New York. The Rosebud was closed by 1906. Turpin, however, stayed in St. Louis, and he remained a massive figure in the city. He opened several more successful nightclubs in Chestnut Valley in the early 1910s and even became involved in local politics before his death in 1922. ------

Here's History is a joint production of KDHX and the Missouri History Museum. I’m Adam Kloppe and this is 88.1 KDHX.