The official copyright title is "A Hot Time in the Old Town", (C) 1896
by Hayden and Metz, but everyone knows it by the words of the last line
of the refrain.  Sheet music images may be downloaded at the Lester
S. Levy web site, http://levysheetmusic.mse.jhu.edu/advancedsearch.html

At http://nfo.net/.cal/tm4.html is a short biography of Theodore Metz:

  "In 1886, Metz took up residence in Chicago, working as a builder's
helper in the daytime and as a musician at night.  He was conducting
local bands, where he would offer ragtime versions of the classics that
he knew so well.  He became the conductor for the McIntyre and Heath
Minstrels company and wrote his most famous composition for them,
"There'll Be A Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight", with lyric by Joe
Hayden.

  "While on tour with the McIntyre and Heath Minstrels, their train
arrived at a place called 'Old Town'.  From their train window Metz
could see a group of children starting a fire near the tracks.  One of
the other minstrels remarked that 'there'll be a hot time in the old
town tonight'.  Metz noted the remark on a scrap of paper, intending to
write a march with that motif.  He did indeed write the march the very
next day.  It was then used by the McIntyre and Heath Minstrels in
their street parades.

  "The song was very popular, even before Joe Hayden, a singer in the
minstrel company, added the lyric.  With the lyric, the song became
popular with minstrel shows everywhere.  Teddy Roosevelt's Rough Riders
used the song during the Spanish-American War.

  "In 1935, at age 87, he received a standing ovation at New York's
Madison Square Garden, with the orchestra playing his big hit,
"There'll Be A Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight".  Metz died in 1936,
at age 88."

A delightful parody alludes to the Great Chicago Fire of October 8-10,
1871, and the legend of Mrs. O'Leary:

  Late one night, when we were all in bed,
  Mrs. O'Leary lit a lantern in the shed.
  Her cow kicked it over, then winked her eye and said,
  "There'll be a hot time in the old town tonight!"

More at http://www.chicagohistory.org/fire/oleary/index.html
and http://www.chicagohs.org/fire/

Robbie Rhodes