The Maple Leaf Club, an African-American social club on East Main Street, gave Scott Joplin's most famous composition its name. Joplin lived in Sedalia through the late 1890s, teaching music and playing piano in the saloons and clubs around the railroad district. The club itself is long gone — the original building was demolished in 1948 — but the city has marked the site with a small park, a historical marker, and a bronze plaque.
Sedalia leans into the legacy. The Scott Joplin International Ragtime Festival is held every June at venues around downtown and draws ragtime pianists from around the world; it's the single most distinctive thing on the city's cultural calendar.