Euday Louis Bowman
Fort Worth, Tarrant County, Texas
Marker Inscription
(Nov. 9, 1886 - May 26, 1949) Fort Worth native Euday Bowman was a ragtime composer. His best known song was the classic "12th Street Rag," which he wrote about his experiences in Kansas City, Kansas. Copyrighted in 1914, it did not become popular until 1948 when it was recorded by Walter "Pee Wee" Hunt. Other songs written by Bowman, including "Fort Worth Blues," were never published. He died of pneumonia while on a business trip to New York City in 1949. Recorded - 1980
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Fort Worth native Euday Bowman (1886–1949) was a ragtime composer whose best-known piece, the 12th Street Rag, drew on his time in Kansas City. Copyrighted in 1914, the tune languished until Pee Wee Hunt's 1948 recording turned it into a national hit—success Bowman barely lived to see, dying of pneumonia in New York the next year. Other works, like his unpublished Fort Worth Blues, never found the same audience.
Why it matters
Bowman's story captures the hard economics of early American popular music, where a composer could write a durable standard decades before it finally paid off.
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Related people
- · Euday Louis Bowman
- · Walter "Pee Wee" Hunt
Themes & tags
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