Corn Palace - Mitchell, South Dakota
Posted by: 
Hikenutty
N 43° 42.894 W 098° 01.535
14T E 578496 N 4840669
In South Dakota corn is king, and here, in Mitchell is where you'll find its palace - a large event center covered on the outside each year in murals created from corn.
Waymark Code: WM1ZMA
Location: South Dakota, United States
Date Posted: 08/10/2007
Views: 92
The following excerpt is from "The WPA Guide to South Dakota":
CORN PALACE, Main St. and Sixth Ave. (open weekdays,
free- Corn Palace week, admission $1), was conceived in 1892 to
advertise the principal products of the locality. The Corn Palace
each year attracts thousands of visitors from all parts of South Dakota and adjoining States.
There is a wide contrast between the frame building with its many
turrets and towers that housed the first Corn Palace crowds in the
"Gay Nineties" and the spacious modern structure erected in 1921
at a cost of $300,000 with a capacity of 5,000.
Its exterior and interior are decorated with corn, 2 to 3 thousand
bushels being used each year, and some 40 tons of other grains
in bundle form. Flax, oats, millet, proso, and cane are all com
bined to picture a different theme each year. Designs are changed
from time to time. One year, for example, in portraying local tra
dition, an interior panel showed an Indian chief beside his prairie
tipi, buffalo meat roasting over the fire, while with misgivings he
pointed toward the next panel, the sod shanty of a settler. Next
came a house and barn of the nineties, followed by a large field
with stacks of grain and finally a modern farmstead. Two large
exterior panels, 14 x 35 feet, supplemented by smaller ones, depict other scenes. Ten separate shades of corn are used in imparting
a lifelike appearance to the scenes, many of the colors having been
developed for specific use near Mitchell. When unprecedented
drought ruined crops in most parts of the State in 1936, boughs of
evergreen trees from the Black Hills were employed as a substitute
for the regular materials to aid in carrying out the scheme of the
design.
Many nationally known bands have played in the Corn Palace,
while among its visitors have been numerous prominent men, including Theodore Roosevelt, William J. Bryan, William H. Taft,
and Franklin D. Roosevelt. Throughout the year the Corn Palace
is used for educational and recreational events.
When we first stopped in Mitchell to see the Corn Palace I had the city girl's snobbish attitude - "won't this be funny? A 'palace' made of corn?!" After seeing the building though it changed my view of the place. Here was a city proud of their heritage - which happens to center around corn. The murals were beautifully done by local artists and each year (not just occasionally, as the guide states) an entire set of new exterior murals is created.
Inside you'll find murals too, such as the Mt. Rushmore mural that I've posted in the gallery. You'll also find yearly photos of the building, and pictures of the first and second Corn Palaces, which make the current palace look plain in comparison. There are interpretive panels explaining how the murals are designed and built, too.
On weekends the auditorium floor is a large craft fair/gift shop, full of corn products, and near the entrance you will smell the delicious scent of fresh caramel corn and kettle corn. We couldn't resist and bought a bag of fresh warm caramel corn to snack on as we wandered the building. It just seemed right to be snacking on corn as we toured its palace.
There is no longer an entrance fee and the tours are free.
Hours are:
Memorial Day through Labor Day: 8am-9pm Daily
April, May, September & October: 8am - 5pm daily
November - March: 8am - 5pm Monday through Friday