Sedalia is located on 65
highway about thirty miles south of I-70. It is home to the
Missouri State Fair every August and to State Fair Community College.
The George R. Smith College, one of the nation's first black colleges,
opened in Sedalia in 1894 and operated until it burned down in 1925.
Today the college is remembered mainly for its most successful
alumnus: Scott Joplin, the King of Ragtime. Joplin enjoyed
his greatest success in Sedalia. It was his experiences at the
popular Maple Leaf Club that inspired him to write ragtime's first hit,
The Maple Leaf Rag. Today
Sedalia remembers him with an annual Scott Joplin Ragtime Festival.
Here is a page with Scott Joplin
links and images. |