Corn Palace facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Corn Palace
Street view of the Corn Palace in Mitchell, South Dakota
General information
Type	multi-purpose arena/facility
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

The Corn Palace in Mitchell, South Dakota, is a truly unique building! It's often called "The World's Only Corn Palace." What makes it so special? Its outside walls are covered in amazing art made from different kinds of corn and other grains.

This building is a popular spot for tourists. Hundreds of thousands of people visit it every year! The Corn Palace is used for many things. It hosts concerts, sports games, and other fun community events.

Each year, the city of Mitchell celebrates the Corn Palace with a big festival. This event used to happen in September during harvest time. Now, it's usually held at the end of August. Other popular events include the Corn Palace Stampede Rodeo in July. The Corn Palace Polka Festival also takes place in September. It's also the home court for the Mitchell High School Kernels and the Dakota Wesleyan University Tigers basketball teams.

Building the Corn Palace

The first Mitchell Corn Palace was built in 1892. It was known as "The Corn Belt Exposition." The main idea was to show off how rich the soil was in South Dakota. They hoped this would encourage more people to move to the area.

The first building was like a wooden castle. It was located on Main Street in Mitchell. The land for it was given by Louis Beckwith. He was part of the first Corn Palace Committee.

Changes Over Time

The Corn Palace has been rebuilt a few times. It was rebuilt in 1905. Then, in 1921, it was rebuilt again. This time, the famous architectural firm Rapp and Rapp from Chicago designed it.

In 1937, some cool new features were added. These included Russian-style onion domes and Moorish minarets. These additions gave the Palace its unique look that you see today. It costs about $130,000 each year to decorate the building.

Art Made from Corn

The outside of the Corn Palace is covered in corn murals. These designs are changed and updated every single year! Local artists create the new designs.

Famous Corn Artists

From 1948 to 1971, an artist named Oscar Howe designed the corn panels. Later, Calvin Schultz created the murals from 1977 to 2002. Since 2003, Cherie Ramsdell has been the artist behind the designs. In 2006, no new mural was made. This was because of a very bad drought that year.

Other Corn Palaces

The Corn Palace in Mitchell wasn't the very first building decorated with grain. Before it, there were other "grain palaces."

• A Corn Palace in Sioux City, Iowa was open from 1887 to 1891.
• There was also a Corn Palace in Gregory, South Dakota.
• A Grain Palace was in Plankinton, South Dakota.
• And a Bluegrass Palace was in Creston, Iowa.

Recent Renovations

In 2015, the domes of the Corn Palace were updated. This happened after they shook a lot during strong winds. The new turrets (the small towers) are now made from strong architectural metals.

Images for kids

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

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  1964 - South Dakota Scenes

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  2000 - Millennium Corn

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  2003 - Scenic South Dakota

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  2004 - Lewis & Clark

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  2005 - Life on the Farm

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  2008 - Everyday Heroes

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  2011 - American Pride

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  2016 - Rock of Ages

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  2020 - South Dakota Home Grown