St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-09-15
Sioux City People Preparing
for a Great Structure
This Fall.
The Men Who Are at the Head
Of the Enterprise Are
RuStlepS.
Features Of Many Styles OF
Architecture Have Been
Incorporated.
The Outlook for an Enormous
Crowd Could Not Be
Better.

Special to the Globe.
SIOUX CITY, To-, Sept. 1.-THE peO-
pie who saw the Corn Palace of 1887,
marvelled greatly thereat, and ex-
pressed wonder that thing so beaut-
full could be wrought from corn and the
grains and grasses from the fields.
Again in 1888 the festival was repeated,
and the palace of king corn was on
much more extensive scale, and the de-
tails of decoration were worked out
much more deliberately. Thousands of
people viewed these two palaces, and
went home satisfied that there was ac-
Eually no limit to the possibilities of
decoration, using only the varied pro-
duets of the fields. Early in the present
season public meeting was called in
this CITY to decide whether or not an
other palace should be built. The eX-
preston was general and free. and it
was all one Way-a palace must be built
and that, too, ON a scale that would
put all previous undertakings III that
line. far in the rear. There was no
waiting. An association was at once
formed, of which A. w. Erwin, pres
ident of the board of education, and
prominent and
PUBLIC SPIRITED CITIZEN.
was made president. The Office of sec
rotary was filled by J. Y. MahOney, an
indefatigable worker, who has done
much for the city in his capacity as COM
missioner of the JObberS' and Manufac-
turerS' association, and to whose energy
and originality much of the success of
the last exhibition was due. To aid the
gentlemen, there was selected board
Of trustees from among the active bust
ness men of the city, and they, in turn,
selected superintendent for the various
branches of the great work. A fund
wa guaranteed by popular subScrip-
lion to be paid up on call, and it was de-
cided to pay for everything as the work
progresses, so that each Saturday night
Bees the work of the proceeding week
not only we'll done, but paid for as well.
To design the palace, Z. W. Loft was
chosen. Mr.. Loft made the plans for
both former palaces and has the dis
tinction of being the only architect in
the world VINO has made designs, plans
and details for corn palace. These
things arranged. everybody went to
work and, ID due time, material began
to arrive on the ground, and to-day
there is nearing completion one of the
most beautiful and unique monuments
to, the enterprise, push and energy of
the people of the Upper Missouri valley
that can be imagined. The corn palace
occupies
THE SAME SITE
as that of last year, except that where
that one had frontage on Sixth and
Pierce streets, the present one spans
Pierce street to the west curb line,
there being a huge archway over the
street railway tracks, and to allow the
passage of vehicles and the usual traffic
of the thOroughfare. The building, en-
tire, has a frontage on the south, or
Sixth street. of 232 feet, and depth on
Pierce street of 100 feet. The main
building is thirty-one feet, eight inches
to the ears, and the roof over the ampi-
theater rises to peak, which is sixty
six feet above the main floor. The
space of the first, or main floor, is e.
$40 feet, while the gallery, or second
floor, has a space of 12,0C0 feet. The
general design of the building is COM
pOsite. but the features of many styles
of architecture have been drawn upon
and so modified and subOrdinated as to
make the whole effect more suggestive
of Welsh castle than any other dis
tinct architectural effect. The roof is
clearly such as is shown in early En-
gliSh architecture, while the windows
and turretS are decidedly Moorish. The
striking feature of the whole structure
is the tower. This rises from the CEN
ter of the front to height of 1S5 feet,
and is surmOunted by a twenty-foOt
flagstaff. This tower is fOrty-eight feet
square at the base, and through it is the
main entrance. For seventy feet this
tower is fOrty-eight feet square; for the
next forty feet it is thirty feet square,
and the remaining seventy-five feet it is
twenty-eight feet square. The tower
has
TWELVE FLOORS,
and it was the original intention to put
in an elevator and make it attractive as
lookout station, as a splendid piano.
ramic view of the city and surrounding
country can be obtained. 1t was found,
however, that the strain would be too
great for so hastily constructed an
affair, and easy stairs were substituted,
the varying view from each of the
twelve floors will repay the climb.
Surrounding this main tower there are
three wide balconies, the first 81 feet 8
inches above the floor, the second 1O3
feet, aid the third 143 feet above the
ground. On the front there are also
two thanking towers, each LOG feet high
and II feet square. and these are
reached by bridges running diagOnally
from the third and fifth floors of the
main tower. In addition there are four
other towers, each 60 feet high and s
feet square. FlagstaffS surmount each
Of the towers, from which will float
streameTS, with the names of the states
whose products will 90 to decorate the
building, and whose counties will make
exhibits during the festival. This vast
structure, so insufhciently described, is
made entirely of pine plank, and with
out the covering that makes it a corn
palace, it is unsightly in the extreme at
close range. 1t is covered with corn,
wheat and oats, straw and grasses. A
beginning was made at the face of the
flagstaff Oh the grand tower, around
which was securely tied a great garland
of golden wheat straw. Then the four
sides of the slanting roof of the tower
were thickly covered with the long
grass of the prairies, securely fastened.
When the cOrnice, 115 feet above the
ground, was reached, the
FRIEZE, FAsCIA AND PLANCHER
were covered with ears of yellow corn.
Then the mOnotony was relieved by a
space covered with bright, green corn
stalks. and so on down, alternating vel
low and red corn to the first balcony.
uO pdilllS dlOullu lu6 UdlcOlN Was
covered with grass, and from the outer
edge of the floor are hung large sheaves
of grain, heads downward, that from
the ground look like so many golden
tassels. In this manner the entire
structure is covered. Many figures and
emblems are worked out in corn in the
gables and over the entrances, and the
window openings have castings of red
corn that produce very pretty effect.
The main roof is covered with water
proof paper, and then matched with
long grass. The slanting roofs of the
smaller towers are covered with ears of
corn. split lengthwise, and nailed fiat
side to the sheething board. The whole
effect is startlingly unique, and the work
has so far progressed as to insure its
completion in good season. To supply
all this corn, general call was made
on the farmers of this section to select
the best and bring it at once, a price
far above that paid on the market being
given. Hundreds of bushels of great