Mitchell, South Dakota

Day 13

We are on our way to Mitchell, South Dakota. This was an easy day since we didn’t have to worry about any tours.

Day 14

Corn Palace was an AMAIZING site! It is the only one in the world. Built in 1892 when the city of Mitchell was just 12 years old. They were competing to become the state’s capital. They of course lost, but the Corn Palace lives on. Each year the decorate the outside of the building with a new theme. It is stripped and redecorated with new corn and grains.

Over the summer, 3,000 bushels of milo, rye, oat heads, and sour dock are tied in bundles and attached. The corn murals have to wait until late summer when the corn crop is ready. Over a half million ears of corn are sawed in half and nailed to the building following patterns created by a local artist. The best time to take pictures of the Corn Palace would be in Sept. when they have completed the designs because as the corn ages, it dulls.

The Corn Palace has an auditorium where many famous people have performed over the years (and still are).

The art inside is not redecorated yearly.

They also use the auditorium for local sporting events.


We were lucky to get a tour of the Carnegie Museum, which is run by volunteers. One of the volunteers left his job to come over and open the building for us. The building was once a library in 1903. In 1940 the famous Yanktonai Nakota Souix artist, Oscar Howe, painted the mural “Sun and Rain Clouds Over Hills” in the dome.

He was only paid approximately $65 to paint the mural. The design was so precise that if you stand out front of the building and look through the window above the front door, you can see one of the birds in the painting centered in the window. He originally used ink base paint and the heat faded the paint, so he had to come back and use an oil base paint. From 1949-1971 Howe designed the murals made of corn.

Before leaving the museum, I used the restroom and found an interesting wall hanging.

The pre-historic indian village shows us how the Mandans lived. Lewis & Clark encountered this tribe in the winter of 1804. You can view an actual ongoing indoor archeological dig in the Archeodome, one of three in the world.