Gus Haenschen

Walter Gustave Haenschen (later called Gus) was born to a family of Swedish-German extraction in St. Louis. At age 13, Haenschen was helping support his family through playing ragtime piano in St. Louis nightclubs; ultimately, Haenschen befriended composer Scott Joplin. At Washington University, Haenschen led a popular dance band that played a mixture of ragtime and salon music, and through the ...more