During an extended photography tour in the fall of 2016 my wife and I spent time exploring four US states, South Dakota, Utah, Colorado and Wyoming. This article features a small selection of images captured at the Mitchell Corn Palace in South Dakota.
NOTE: Click on images to enlarge.
As a way to promote themselves a number of cities on the Great Plains of the United States constructed ‘crop palaces’. The original corn palace in Mitchell South Dakota was built in 1892.
It was rebuilt in 1905, then again in 1921. Its distinctive Russian-style onion domes and Moorish minarets were added in 1937 giving the Corn Palace its unique appearance. The domes were renovated in 2015 after a strong windstorm.
All of the interior and exterior corn murals are made from 13 natural colours of cultivated corn. The interior corn murals are permanent displays.
The exterior corn murals are replaced and redesigned with a new theme each year. Over 500,000 tourists visit the Mitchell Corn Palace each year. If you are travelling in the area a stop at this unique and important historical site is recommended.
A number of events and concerts are held at the facility, which also serves as the home of the Dakota Wesleyan University Tigers and Mitchell High School Kernels basketball teams.
If you enjoyed this article you may have an interest in our eBook, Desert & Mountain Memories. It is available for purchase and download for $9.99 Canadian.
Information about the download process.
The download is a two-stage process. When you first click on the Buy Button you will be transferred to the PayPal site for you to make your payment. Once that is completed you will be redirected back to the website. You must wait for a minute or two after the PayPal logo has disappeared before you begin your download. There will be a pause for several minutes while the website prepares a personalized copy of the eBook you just purchased. This delay is normal. Do not click a second time as this will interrupt the creation of your personalized eBook. After a few minutes, the download will then begin. Your copy of the eBook you just purchased will have a QR code unique to you, and your password will be your email address that you used when purchasing the eBook.
Technical Note:
All photographs were captured hand-held using Nikon 1 gear (J5). All images in this article were produced from RAW files using my standard process of DxO OpticsPro 11, CS6 and the Nik Collection.
My intent is to keep this photography blog advertising free. If you enjoyed this article and/or my website and would like to support my work you can purchase an eBook, or make a modest $10 donation through PayPal, both are most appreciated. You can use the Donate button below. Larger donations can be made to tom@tomstirr.com through PayPal.
Article Copyright 2018, all images Copyright 2016 Thomas Stirr. All rights reserved. No use, duplication or adaptation of any kind is allowed without written consent. If you see this article reproduced anywhere else it is an unauthorized and illegal use. Posting comments on offending web sites and calling out individuals who steal intellectual property is always appreciated!
So cool. What a place and it has been around since 1892 and this is the first I have heard of grain palaces. I am guessing that it must be pretty dry in that area. If this was in Louisiana all that corn would rot before a year was up.
Thanks for sharing your wonderful photos of it and its artwork.
Hi Joni,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts – always appreciated! Neither my wife or I had heard of corn palaces either. She always does a great job researching potential stops for our photography tours and it was her investigations that identified this location.
Tom