The Corn Palace of Mitchell, South Dakota
The Corn Palace in Mitchell, South Dakota
I grew up in northwestern Kansas on a farm that grew wheat and milo. a feed grain, and raised cattle. As the youngest of eight kids, I guess my parents also grew their own farm hands. My parents loved to travel and believed in the educational value of travel, so after the wheat harvest and county fair in July, they would take our family on a three-week driving trip in the two-toned Buick station wagon. I have great memories of these vacations, and I miss them, because in today’s world it’s hard to be able to take the time off for a driving vacation – but oh, what you can discover when driving cross country!
A few years ago my husband, Chris and I, and my mother-in-law took a driving trip to attend our son’s Master’s of Architecture graduation from Chris and my own alma mater, Kansas State University. While we could have flown, we looked forward to the windshield time we’d have traveling from Jackson, Wyoming to Manhattan, Kansas.
Looking on a map, you may think that would be long, boring drive. Have you heard country star Jason Aldean’s song, “Fly Over States”? The lyrics start with “Man, it all looks the same. Miles and miles of back roads and highways, Connecting little towns with funny names, Who'd want to live down there in the middle of nowhere?” But, as many Midwestern states are mentioned in the song, the lyrics include, “You'd think heaven's doors have opened, You'll understand why God made, Those fly over states.” We couldn’t agree more. The United States is so large and so diverse and it’s wonderful to experience states by driving through them.
Since this is a blog article for our livelihood, Dubbe Moulder Architects, let me introduce you to a unique architectural achievement we explored while driving on Interstate 90 through South Dakota: the World’s Only Corn Palace. Most of you reading this post will likely have never heard of the structure but it is a site to behold! Perhaps as a “farm girl” I have a deeper appreciation of it than others because it is one of the most unusual buildings I’ve ever seen.
Elvis Presley on a wall of the Corn Palace
The Corn Palace looks like a life-sized Russian castle, complete with Russian-style onion domes and Moorish minarets (the architectural term for the rocket looking tall towers that seem to stand guard at the palace like sentries.) The building feels like the biggest piece of folk art that has ever been created – it is at once historic, inspiring and a bit of “feel good Americana” that needs to be seen to be believed. The structure is huge. The roof is 68’ high with the domes towering above that. Inside the Corn Palace are two floors that encompass 43,500 square feet and include an auditorium and basketball arena that can seat 3,200 people for a concert.
What people come to see, however, is the exterior of the building which is completely covered with murals that are created annually from over 275,000 ears of corn! Here’s a trivia tidbit: corn comes in 12 natural colors, not just the yellow we see in the grocery store. All the colors of corn are naturally grown by local farmers in separate fields with special seed raised just for the Corn Palace. Oats, sorghum, barley, and sudangrass are also used with the corn to make a completely nature-based artist medium. No paint or artificial coloring is used. The artistry is amazing as is the process.
Grass and corn for decorative materials
Grass and corn for decorative materials
The corn murals are redesigned and replaced every year with a new theme – the year my family visited, the theme was Rock of the Ages and the murals featured Elvis, Willie Nelson and Michael Jackson. It takes about twenty local residents three months to redecorate the Corn Palace at an annual cost of about $135,000. Each mural is like a huge paint by number canvas. The designs are drawn onto roofing paper that is tacked onto the building and then each ear of corn is nailed into its proper place. Murals from the previous year’s theme are removed in August with the unveiling of the new year’s theme ready in early October. One can imagine that the Palace is also called the World’s Largest Bird Feeder as pigeons and squirrels avail themselves of the artistic feast.
My husband and I are also a history lovers and what makes the Corn Palace so special and unique is its history and the people who secure that history and carry it forward for us all to see, touch and appreciate. It’s rare to see such an endeavor these days.
The original Corn Palace in Mitchell, South Dakota, was built in 1892 as a way to celebrate and promote the region’s fertile soil and lure settlers to the Great Plains. Corn Palaces were also built in Sioux City, Iowa and Gregory, South Dakota. Only the one in Mitchell remains and it has been rebuilt and remodeled several times, most recently in 2015. The Corn Palace is not just a tourist attraction. It serves as an arena for concerts, sports events and exhibitions and it is the venue for the annual Corn Palace Festival held in late August.
Should you ever be driving Interstate 90 through South Dakota take the time to see this one of a kind structure which celebrates the local community, their history and their agricultural livelihood. It’s well worth your visit.
by Jolene Moulder
Office Manager at Dubbe Moulder Architects