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John Stillwell Stark (1841-1927) founded his company in Sedalia, Missouri, in 1885. He published Scott Joplin's rags from 1899 with the publication of the Maple Leaf Rag which was so successful that it enabled Stark to move his business to St. Louis and Joplin to devote himself to composing music. Stark even opened a New York office in 1905 - at the height of Ragtime's popularity. The office was closed in 1910 after the death of Stark's wife.
John Stark's eldest son Etilmon J. Stark (1867-1962), a musician and bandmaster for the Wentworth Military Academy from 1896 to 1905 was a Ragtime composer in his own right and the primary arranger of The Red-Back Book, the famous collection of Ragtime orchestrations issued in 1912. After Stark's passing in 1927, the business was renamed as Stark Printing Company and apparently continues to operate in the St. Louis area until the present day.
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