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Corn Palace - Mitchell, SD


6/28/2006	Our location - Emery South Dakota Corn Palace
While in Emery, SD, we traveled 12 miles west to Mitchell to get our SD driver's licenses, register to vote and visit an attorney to update our wills. While there we could not pass up the chance to see the world's only Corn Palace. In 1805, When Lewis and Clark traveled through the northern plains, they wrote in their journals that this area was the Great American Desert suitable only for buffalo. Surely, they wrote, no man could ever make a living farming here. Wanting to prove Lewis and Clark wrong, as well as to entice settlers to the area, the Corn Belt Real Estate Association built the first Corn Palace to showcase all of the crops that could be grown in the rich Dakota soil. The decorating process begins in the early summer when all of the grasses and grains are removed from the building and replaced in new geometric designs. 3000 bushels of milo, rye, oat heads and sour dock are tied into bundles and nailed to the building. In late summer, when the corn matures, the mural pictures are replaced. About 275,000 ears of corn are sawed in half and nailed flat-side to the building.
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	While in Mitchell, we could not pass up the chance to see the world's only Corn Palace. From across the street, Mark takes in the view with a couple of friends!
	Dale too!
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	Wanting to prove Lewis and Clark wrong, as well as to entice settlers to the area, the Corn Belt Real Estate Association built the first Corn Palace to showcase all of the crops that could be grown in the rich Dakota soil.
	The first Corn Palace was built in 1892. This is the third Corn Palace, built in 1921.
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	Each year the Corn Palace is redecorated in a new theme. Exceptions to this tradition occurred during the Depression, World War I and II eras, and Mitchell's Centennial year. The decorative materials are all native corn, grasses and grains of South Dakota.
	About 275,000 ears of corn are sawed in half and nailed flat-side to the building.
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	It takes approximately three months to redecorate the Palace at an annual cost of over $100,000 each year. Approximately 20 local residents are hired each summer to redecorate the Palace.
	This building in downtown Mitchell was probably, at one time, the "medial center" The signs above the windows say, "Physician.", "Surgeon,", "Prescriptions."
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	One of the tallest buildings in Mitchell.
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