Corn Palace -- Mitchell, SD

Mitchell, South Dakota, is famous for its Corn Palace, which has been an attraction since 1892. The original Corn Palace, called "The Corn Belt Exposition," allowed early settlers to display the fruits of their harvest on the building exterior in order to prove the fertility of South Dakota soil. The third and present building, shown below, was completed in 1921.

It serves as the home for their basketball team, named (of course) "The Kernals." As seen in this photo, the interior walls up near the ceiling are also decorated with corn murals depicting various scenes.

The exterior decorations are completely stripped down and new murals are created each year. The murals are designed by local artists, and new materials are applied to the building with each mural depicting an important facet of the lifestyle of South Dakota. These murals require thousands of bushels of corn, grain, grasses, wild oats, brome grass, blue grass, rye, straw, and wheat each year. while we were there, workers were creating the final few outside murals, attaching the colorful corn cobs with nail guns. The mural below shows the process used with the areas in blue having white outlines showing what color is to be applied in each area. You can also distinguish the individual ears of corn. (Click on the photo to enlarge it. )


Here are 2 more of the murals: