"Up till 1899, the business of publishing music and promoting it didn't have a name. However, in that year, a sometime song writer named Monroe Rosenfeld was hired by the New York Herald to write a series of articles on the relatively new and flourishing music publishing business. To do some research, he visited the offices of Harry Von Tilzer at 42 West 28th Street. Von Tilzer was one of many music publishers now in business in New York City, most of them located on west 28th.

"There was no air conditioning, of course, so in the summertime the doors were left open. As Rosenfeld left Von Tilzer's office, he heard a din of competitive pianists. It sounded to him, he wrote, like a bunch of tin pans clanging. Rather than use the word 'street' he used the more colorful 'alley.' Hence, 'Tin Pan Alley.'"

from TIN PAN ALLEY by David Jasen