Dresser performed in traveling minstrel and medicine-wagon shows and as a vaudeville entertainer for decades, before transitioning to music publishing later in life.

Although Dresser had no formal training in music composition, he wrote ballads that had wide appeal, including some of the most popular songs of the era.

Dresser grew up in a large family (including his brother, novelist Theodore Dreiser) and lived in Sullivan and Terre Haute, Indiana.

Eventually, he became a nationally known talent and participated in several traveling acts, including The Two Johns, A Tin Soldier, and The Danger Signal.

In 1865 Dresser's father temporarily lost his job after a fire destroyed the Sullivan mill; a year later he suffered a work-related head injury.

In 1867 his father and two partners purchased and operated a new mill, but the business lost its roof in a storm and the men sold it for a loss.

The town was frequented by bands that played many of the era's popular and patriotic songs at numerous carnivals, festivals, circuses, and fairs.

[6][14] While living with his family in Sullivan, Dresser was befriended by Father Herman Joseph Alerding, a local priest who was a St. Meinrad graduate.

[17] The fourteen-year-old Dresser then returned to Terre Haute and worked a series of odd jobs to help support his family.

[20] At age sixteen Dresser took a job as a teacher and musician at a Catholic church in Brazil, Indiana, but left after less than a year.

[23] After a few months, Kelly disappeared with their money during a show, leaving Dresser with no funds to pay their lodging or food bills.

[23] After his release Dresser went to Indianapolis in search of work and was reunited with his mentor, Father Alerding, who had been recently moved to the city.

As his money ran low, Dresser turned to crime, robbing two saloons of whiskey and cash after they had closed for the night.

[26] In 1876 Dresser secured a job as an organist and singer with the Lemon Brothers, a traveling minstrel group from Marshall, Illinois.

[27] Next, Dresser went to Chicago, where John Austin Hamlin hired him to sing and perform in his traveling shows marketing Wizard Oil, a patent medicine.

[32] Around 1878 Dresser may have taken a job with Barlow, Wilson, Primrose, and West, a prominent traveling minstrel group that was among the most famous in the nation at the time.

He also starred as one of the featured acts in a benefit concert for Daniel Decatur Emmett (the composer of "Dixie") at the Chicago Academy of Music.

Known for his generosity, Dresser sent his mother a substantial sum of money and arranged for his three youngest siblings to move into his Evansville home and took care of their needs.

[40] In the early 1880s Dresser worked with a group of vaudeville performers, including James Goodwin, John Leach, and Emma Lamouse.

Managed by Frank McKee, the Charles Hale Hoyt production was in its fourth season when Dresser joined the twelve-member cast.

[50][51][g] Dresser, who had been large since his youth and weighed nearly 300 pounds (140 kg), performed as a jolly plumber in the nationally acclaimed show.

[36] The New York City firm published Dresser's works, while he recruited new songwriters and encouraged singers to perform the company's songs.

[59] Theodore went to work for Howley, Haviland and Company as editor of the firm's trade journal, Ev'ry Month, which promoted their newest songs.

[8] During their time together in New York, the brothers frequented Broadway theaters, popular restaurants, and hotel bars as well as the city's brothels and saloons.

[36][72] In 1902 the song was so well known that after power outage at the arena on Coney Island left thousands of people in the dark, the entire crowd sang "Wabash" to prevent a panic while repairmen fixed the lighting.

[88] After his finances finally gave out, Dresser was forced to leave the hotel where he was living and move to his sister's and brother-in-law's home in New York City.

On March 19 Dresser's remains were moved to St. Boniface Cemetery in Chicago, where a funeral and final burial took place on November 23, 1907.

[i] Newspaper and magazine columnist H. L. Mencken remarked that it is a "high honor to write songs that a hundred million people all know and all love" in a reference to Dresser's work.

[99] The Paul Dresser Birthplace is maintained at Henry Fairbanks Park in Terre Haute by the Vigo County Historical Society.

[97] The village of Dresser, also called Taylorville, is situated on the west bank of the Wabash River in Vigo County and was also named for the songwriter.