Ragtime musical compser1/16/2024 ![]() ![]() ![]() In the 1920s he served as a deputy constable for the African American community of Saint Louis, then a Justice of the Peace. In 1916 he opened the Jazzland Cafe which had a short run. Washington Airdome vaudeville theater and his Eureka Club, established in 1910. Tom then ran various dance halls and brothels for the next several years, as well as the Booker T. However, after the Lewis and Clark Exposition and World's Fair of 1904 folded, the Rosebud was not far behind, going out of business in 1906. A large man at 300 or more pounds, he had a piano raised up on a platform in the center of the room to better facilitate him playing it. ![]() In 1900 Tom opened his own venue, the Rosebud Cafe, which hosted a wide variety of performers over the next several years, and was a social center for black Saint Louis. In 1897 he became the first black composer to have a ragtime piece published, which was his Harlem Rag, although it was arranged by other musicians, and no less than three times over the next few years. Back in Saint Louis in the early 1890s, Tom's reputation as a pianist and a host grew, as did his capabilities in syncopation. In the late 1880s Tom and his older brother Charles had an investment in the Big Onion mine in Searchlight, Nevada, which did not pan out. Tom was a gifted musician, although not formally trained. The family moved to Saint Louis, Missouri, around 1880, and from that time forward they were engaged in the saloon and entertainment businesses, as well as running a livery stable. Unsupported> Tom Turpin was a native of Savannah, Georgia, the son of freed slave "Honest John" Turpin, a political insider in town. ![]()
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