Corn Palace

In the late 19th Century, a number of cities on the Great Plains constructed "crop palaces" (also known as "grain palaces") to promote themselves and their products. As the idea succeeded, it spread, including: a Corn Palace in Sioux City, Iowa, that was active from 1887–1891; a Corn Palace in Gregory, South Dakota; a Grain Palace in Plankinton, South Dakota; and a Bluegrass Palace in Creston, Iowa.[3] From 1887 to 1930, at least thirty-four corn palaces were built across the Midwest United States; only the Mitchell Corn Palace has remained intact.[4]

The original Mitchell Corn Palace (known as "The Corn Belt Exposition") was built in 1892 to showcase the rich soil of South Dakota and encourage people to settle in the area. It was a wooden castle structure on Mitchell's Main Street, constructed on land donated by Louis Beckwith, a member of the First Corn Palace Committee.[5] In 1904–1905, the city of Mitchell mounted a challenge to the city of Pierre in an unsuccessful attempt to replace it as the state capital of South Dakota. As part of this effort, the Corn Palace was rebuilt in 1905. In 1921, the Corn Palace was rebuilt once again, with a design by the architectural firm Rapp and Rapp of Chicago. Russian-style onion domes and Moorish minarets were added in 1937, giving the Palace the distinctive appearance that it has today.

In 2004, national media attention was drawn to the Corn Palace, when it received Homeland Security funding. This drew criticism of the Department of Homeland Security and its grant program.[6] In 2007, the Corn Palace subsequently received $25,000 in DHS funding for a camera system useful for purposes including Barack Obama's visit in 2008, and as reported by the Mitchell Daily Republic, to protect a "new Fiberglass statue of the Corn Palace mascot Cornelius" in 2009.[7] This statue sits across Main Street, west of the Corn Palace.

The Palace's domes were renovated in 2015 after shaking in strong winds.[8] The new turrets are made of architectural metals.[9]

Concerts at the Corn Palace include: Johnny Cash thrice (once in 1968), The Beach Boys in 1969, Willie Nelson twice (once in 2003), Brad Paisley in 2004, Styx twice (once in 2005), Chubby Checker in 2005, Weird Al Yankovic in 2007, David Cook in 2009, Charlie Daniels Band in 2012, Billy Currington with Jake Owen in 2012, The Turtles with Mark Lindsay in 2013, Warrant with FireHouse in 2014, Pat Benatar in 2014, and Theory of a Deadman in 2015.

The exterior corn murals are replaced and redesigned each year with a new theme, with designs created by local artists. From 1948 to 1971, the artist Oscar Howe designed the panels. Calvin Schultz designed the murals from 1977 to 2002. From 2003 to 2017, the murals have been designed by Cherie Ramsdell.[10] No new mural was created in 2006 due to an extreme drought.[11] Beginning in 2018, designs have been created by Dakota Wesleyan University students.[12][13] As of 2018, it costs an estimated $175,000 each time the Palace is redecorated.[10]

Twelve naturally-occurring shades of corn are grown by local farmers to create the artwork.[14] Artists' drawings are transferred to black tar paper labeled with codes corresponding to colors, providing a "corn-by-numbers" pattern showing where each colored cob should be nailed.[14] Corn cobs are split in two lengthwise and nailed to the exterior of the building, using approximately 1.5 million nails and 325,000 ears of corn.[10]

Display demonstrating the "corn-by-numbers" technique used to create murals

• 
  1964 - South Dakota Scenes
• 
  2000 - Millennium Corn
• 
  2003 - Scenic South Dakota
• 
  2004 - Lewis & Clark
• 
  2005 - Life on the Farm
• 
  2008 - Everyday Heroes
• 
  2011 - American Pride
• 
  2016 - Rock of Ages
• 
  2020 - South Dakota Home Grown

• Briggs, John Ely (1922). "The Sioux City Corn Palaces". The Palimpsest. 3 (10): 313–326. ISSN 0031-0360.
• A Chronological History of the World's Only Corn Palace — Mitchell, SD. Corn Palace Committee. 1992.
• Guhin, Paula (2002). The King of Corn, Cal Schultz: Having the Times of His Life. Aberdeen, SD: Prairie Home Press. ISBN 978-0971965805.
• Mitchell Chamber of Commerce. A Year by Year History Of ... The World's Only Corn Palace. 5th ed. Mitchell, SD: Educator Supply Company, 1957.
• Pennington, Robert (1961). Oscar Howe: Artist of the Sioux. Sioux Falls, SD: Dakota Territory Centennial Commission.
• Rubin, Cynthia Elyce (Fall 1983). "The Midwestern Corn Palaces: A 'Maize' of Detail and Wonder". The Clarion: 24–31.
• Schwieder, Dorothy; Swanson, Patricia (Spring 1973). "The Sioux City Corn Palaces". Annals of Iowa. 41 (8): 1209–1227. doi:10.17077/0003-4827.11148. ISSN 0003-4827.
• Simpson, Pamela H. (2005). Breisch, Kenneth A.; Hoagland, Alison K. (eds.). "Cereal Architecture: Late-Nineteenth-Century Grain Palaces and Crop Art". Building Environments: Perspectives in Vernacular Architecture. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press. X: 269–82. ISBN 978-1572334403.
• Simpson, Pamela H. (2003). "Turn-of-the-Century Midwestern Corn Festivals: Kiosks and Crop Art as American Icons". Arris. 14: 1–15.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mitchell Corn Palace.

• Corn Palace Convention & Visitors Bureau
• Corn Palace Festival
• Corn Palace Stampede Rodeo
• Corn Palace Fan Site
• Corn Palace Fan Site