Corn Palace
Corn Palace | |
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Street view of the Corn Palace in Mitchell, South Dakota
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General information | |
Type | multi-purpose arena/facility |
Coordinates | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. |
Completed | 1921 (dome and minarets added in 1937) |
Owner | City of Mitchell |
Management | City of Mitchell |
Height | |
Antenna spire | 26.2 m (86 ft) (flagpole) |
Roof | 20.7 m (68 ft) (dome) |
Technical details | |
Floor count | 2 |
Floor area | 4,042.2 m2 (43,510 sq ft) |
Design and construction | |
Architect | Rapp & Rapp |
Other information | |
Seating capacity | 3,200 [1] |
The Corn Palace, commonly advertised as The World's Only Corn Palace and the Mitchell Corn Palace, is a multi-purpose arena/facility located in Mitchell, South Dakota. The Moorish Revival building is decorated with crop art; the murals and designs covering the building are made from corn and other grains. It is a popular tourist destination, visited by between 200,000[2] and 500,000[3] people each year.
The Corn Palace serves the community as a venue for concerts, sports events, exhibits and other community events. Each year, the Corn Palace is celebrated with a citywide festival, the Corn Palace Festival. Historically it was held at harvest time in September, but recently it has been held at the end of August. Other popular annual events include the Corn Palace Stampede Rodeo in July and the Corn Palace Polka Festival in September. It is also home to the Dakota Wesleyan University Tigers and the Mitchell High School Kernels basketball teams.
History
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, built on land donated by Louis Beckwith, a member of the First Corn Palace Committee.[4] 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. It costs $130,000 annually to decorate the Palace.[citation needed]
The exterior corn murals are replaced and redesigned each year with a new theme. The designs are created by local artists. From 1948 to 1971, the artist Oscar Howe designed the panels. Calvin Schultz designed the murals from 1977 to 2002. Since 2003, the murals have been designed by Cherie Ramsdell. No new mural was created in 2006 due to an extreme drought.[5]
The Corn Palace in Mitchell was preceded by several other grain palaces 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.
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. 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. This statue sits across Main Street, west of the Corn Palace.
The Palace's domes were renovated in 2015 after shaking in strong winds.[2] The new turrets are made of architectural metals.[6]
Corn palace designs by year
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Mitchell Corn Palace in 1907.jpg
1907
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Mitchell Corn Palace Front 1964.JPG
1964
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Mitchell Corn Palace Side 1964.JPG
1964
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Mitchell Corn Palace Side view 1964.JPG
1964
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2003-08-15 Mitchell Corn Palace.jpg
2003 - Scenic South Dakota
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Corn Palace 2004.jpg
2004 - Lewis & Clark
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Mitchell Corn Palace 2005.jpg
2005 - Life on the Farm
Bibliography
- Briggs, John Ely. "The Sioux City Corn Palaces." The Palimpsest 44, no. 12 (1963): 549-62.
- Cerney, Jan. Images of America: Mitchell's Corn Palace. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2004.
- "A Chronological History of the World's Only Corn Palace." Mitchell, SD: CPD Distribution, 2001.
- Guhin, Paula. The King of Corn, Cal Schultz: Having the Times of His Life. Aberdeen, SD: Prairie Home Press, 2002.
- 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. Oscar Howe: Artist of the Sioux. Sioux Falls, SD: Dakota Territory Centennial Commission, 1961.
- Rubin, Cynthia Elyce. "The Midwestern Corn Palaces: A 'Maize' of Detail and Wonder." The Clarion (1983): 24-31.
- Schwieder, Dorothy and Patricia Swanson, “The Sioux City Corn Palaces,” Annals of Iowa 41, no. 8 (Spring 1973): 1209-1227.
- Simpson, Pamela H. "Cereal Architecture: Late-Nineteenth-Century Grain Palaces and Crop Art." In Building Environments: Perspectives in Vernacular Architecture, Volume X, edited by Kenneth A. Breisch and Alison K. Hoagland, 269-82. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2005.
- Simpson, Pamela H. "Turn-of-the-Century Midwestern Corn Festivals: Kiosks and Crop Art as American Icons." Arris 14 (2003): 1-15.
References
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ "Mitchell's Corn Palace", Jan Cerney
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mitchell Corn Palace. |
- Pages with broken file links
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- Articles with unsourced statements from October 2015
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- Maize
- Mitchell, South Dakota
- Landmarks in South Dakota
- Tourism in South Dakota
- Roadside attractions in South Dakota
- Novelty buildings in the United States
- Music venues completed in 1892
- Infrastructure completed in 1892
- Music venues completed in 1921
- Infrastructure completed in 1921
- Moorish Revival architecture in South Dakota
- Buildings and structures in Davison County, South Dakota
- Visitor attractions in Davison County, South Dakota