Early Tin Pan Alley

Between the late 1890s and 1970s New York City’s music publishing district was known as “Tin Pan Alley”—a reference to the continuous sound of pianos emanating from nearly every open window nearby, allegedly causing a remark that it sounded like the banging of tin pans. And it is easy to believe; the activity of composing and “plugging” songs was ceaseless. Here we find pioneering efforts by the tunesmiths and poets of New York’s fabled music publishing district. This list includes both free-standing and from musical shows.