Ragtime composer gave Dover its name

December 01, 2007 06:56 pm

— By Wally Kennedy
wkennedy@joplinglobe.com
The hill, northwest of Main Street and Murphy Boulevard, was designated “Dover Hill” in 1951, when Joplin honored one of its native sons, Percy Wenrich, the famed ragtime composer.
The “Dover” designation came from one of Wenrich’s most famous songs at the turn-of-the-century, “Put on Your Old Gray Bonnet.” Part of the song’s refrain is: “Through the fields of clover, we’ll go up to Dover on our golden wedding day.”
According to a report that appeared in The Joplin Globe in 1951, the Dover Hill referred to in the song was actually a few miles west of Joplin near the Missouri-Kansas line.
Galena, Kan., Mayor Dale Oglesby said there is a Dover Hill north of Shoal Creek on the south side of Galena, which is close to the Missouri-Kansas line.
At the same time Dover Hill was given its name, the city adopted “Put on Your Old Gray Bonnet” as its official song. Wenrich died in 1952.
Dover Hill was donated to the city by the William Landreth family around 1928.
“That was all donated for park purposes,” Brian Head, Joplin attorney, said of the donations of Landreth Park and Dover Hill.
In 1940, a second deed was signed by surviving Landreth family members, removing some of the restrictions on the hill itself, although restrictions remained for the rest of the donated park land. He said he is not sure why that was changed.
“The hill itself was carved out via this quit-claim deed in 1940,” Head said.

First up
Joplin’s first park, Cunningham, was donated to the city in 1898.