Organized January 26, 1833, from Cooper and Saline Counties, and named for Spencer Pettis, a Missouri congressman. The county seat is Sedalia, which is also home of the annual Missouri State Fair. Pettis is a strong rural county, but Sedalia was closely tied to the railroad lines passing through it. Those times are almost forgotten, except for the annual Ragtime Festival held to commemorate the partnership in Sedalia of music publisher John Stark and ragtime composer Scott Joplin.
Pettis County Courts first met at St. Helena (Pin Hook), circa 1833-37, at the home of James Ramey, and then moved to Georgetown in 1837. A small courthouse was built there and served until the county seat moved to Sedalia in 1865. (The Georgetown courthouse structure was destroyed by fire June 22, 1920.) Temporary structures were used in Sedalia until 1884 when a contract was allowed for bid. The winning dimensions were 100 by 145 feet, with a 22-foot tower. Carthage stone was used for the base; the upper portion had stone veneering. Crossing halls and public offices were tiled; two courtrooms occupied the second floor. Walls of the courtrooms were frescoed, and the ceilings were painted with allegorical scenes by Italian artists. The oak furniture was hand carved. The courthouse was heavily damaged by fire on June 16, 1920. Restoration and renovation took 4 years and were completed in 1925. But all of the above indicates an obvious records chase in Pettis County for researchers.
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[Sedalia is NOT the birthplace of ragtime as claimed by some festival promoters. Not even close. Nor was it created by Scott Joplin. Also not even close. Joplin's contribution was to bring classical disciplines to ragtime piano compositions and thereby created the 4th form of ragtime known as Classical Ragtime, so named by his publisher, Sedalia music store owner, John Stark.
Benj. R. Harney of Louisville, Ky., created the 1st form, the Ragtime Song, and took that to New York City in late 1895. There, Harney's immediately popular ragtime syncopation was quickly adapted to the Cakewalk, which was still in popular vogue after a ten year+ run, and was the 2nd form. Arranger, Max Hoffmann, working for M. Witmark's Chicago office, took the choruses of ragtime songs published by that firm in 1896 and created the 3rd form, the Medley Rag. Joplin's first rag, "Original Rags," was a medley rag in execution (four 16 bar rags). The first ragtime composition, in the cakewalk tradition, is credited to William Krell, "Mississippi Rag," and was the first published piece with "Rag" as a title designation.
Scott Joplin joined what had become a national craze, thinking he could do better. He could. And he did. There remains no doubt, even today, that Joplin was the greatest ragtime composer, even though not a great player. Scott Joplin is buried in Brooklyn, John Stark in St. Louis, and Benj. R. Harney in Fernwood, Pa. I have been to all three graves. (photo) GCW]