denny Architectural Art & Design

2010RoadTripUSA. Part 55. Mitchell Corn palace. September 2010. Music by Tomorrow. The Corn Palace is a multi-purpose arena/facility located in Mitchell, South Dakota. It is a popular tourist destination, visited by more than 500000 people each year. The Moorish Revival building is decorated with Crop art; the murals and designs covering the building are made from corn and other grains. It also hosts the home basketball games of Dakota Wesleyan University and the Mitchell High School Kernels. 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. 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. Moorish domes and minarets were added in 1937, giving the Palace the distinctive appearance that it has today. It costs 0000 annually to decorate the Palace. 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 ...