St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-09-24
IN KING CORN'S REALM
Dedication of Sioux City's
Magnificent and Unique
Palace Of Corn.
Thousands Of Hawkeyes View
the Eighth Wonder Of the
Wo?ld.
In Every Way the Present
Palace EXeelS That of
Last Year.
Its Interior a Marvel OF Art
Decoration Done in
Corn.
SnecisI to the Globe.

Special to the Globe.
Sioux CITY. To-, Sept. 23.-The third
annual corn palace festival was auspi-
ciously opened to the public to-day.
Work was continued by the aid of cleo
tric light up to midnight Saturday IN
completing the decorations, and at noon
to-day the great entrance was thrown
open, and the palace of beauty. the
eighth wonder of the world, was COM
plete. People who have never seen a
corn palace are apt to say that the
printed descriptions of it are exagger-
ated, but il is violating no truth 10 say
that pen cannot do it justice, much
less indulge in eXaggeration. 1t is
strikingly beautiful, and at the same
time the uniqueness Of the design and
the great amount of labor expended
impresses one with the great task that
has been carried Oat in so short a time.
In every way does the present corn
palace excel that of 1888. as that one
did The palace of 1871. 1t exceiS IN SIZE,
in imposing appearance and IN the
grand possibilities displayed in the use
of corn. and
THE GRAINS AND GRASSES
of the field for decorative purposes.
There is no denying the fact that the
corn palace is a beautiful and novel,
and at the same time the most appro-
pirate. structure ever erected Tor the
sole purpose of displaying the products
of this section. The idea was entirely
original with Sioux City. and from
start that gave little promise OF the pos
SibilitieS in store. has been enlarged
and elaborated until this one will be
raised by residents of ever state and
in, 10 1Tninn The idP9 has
been taken up elsewhere, and the
spring palace at Fort Worth, Tex, the
blue grass palace at CTestOn, To-, the
hay palace at AlgOna, To-, shows that it
is popular, and has proved an attrac-
ton to the people everywhere. There
vet remains to be placed, some of the
exhibits, but the building, with its
wonderful decorations, is complete. and
nothing marred the opening exercises.
The third annual corn palace festival IS
open, and if indications are to be relied
upon will far excel any Of the previous
ones. A drizZling rain set in about 10
O'Clock and has continued at intervals
during the entire day. But it had little
effect on the attendance. Hundreds of
people surrounded the main entrance at
noon when it was opened. On the in
side all was hustle and life in a short
time. Visitors were loud in their
praise of the decorations, which are
complete, and exhibitors were busy
putting the finishing touches on i'm
menSe number of very fine displays.
at 1880 the Seventy-frSt Regiment
band of New York gave a programme
concert. At 7:30 the formal exercises
attending the opening were begun. In
a ten-nInute speech Hon. E. A. Irwin,
president of the corn palace, introduced
Ii, n ,af oil cl-
who made the dedicatOry address,
which was well received and
heartily cheered. Further programme
consisted of music and short speeches.
The history of the two previous efforts
have been printed, and brief sketch of
the preliminary work attending the
erection of the present palace may not
be without interest, before attempting
to give the reader an imperfect idea or
the beauties of the interior. 1t was on
May that the first call was issued for
meeting of citizens 10 decide whether
Or not the
PALACE SHOULD BE BUILT.
This meeting was held May q. and
before that day it became evident that
the Sioux City idea would triumph and
that the sentiment would carry. And so
it proved. The sentiment was all one
way. and that was in favor of corn
palace. A committee of twenty prom
inent business men was appointed to
take the matter in charge. This COM
mittee met May "a, and appointed Capt.
c. G. Culver chairman of a finance com
mittee, with power to appoint the re-
naming members, and they were to
canvass the city and ascertain just what
could be done. Success followed their
efforts Notwithstanding the citizens had
I,1,x nnn -. l.
lie enterprises during the previous
few months. June IA a permanent Or
ganization was effected, with the fol-
lowing officers: President, a. W. En-
win; vice president, James E. Booge:
treasurer, Zeno r. Brown; secretary,
James Y. MahOney. A committee to
select site was appointed, which, after
due consideration, selected the north
east corner of Sixth and Pierce streets,
the site occupied by the palace of 1888
June a the officers of the old Corn Pal
ace association, which was Incorporated
under the laws of the state, turned over
all their rights and franchise to the new
organization, and everything was in
readiness to proceed. When the various
committees, some eight or ten in num-
Der. were appointed. On the 24th of
June a design for palace, submitted
by E. w. Lott, who was the architect of
bOtn previous buildings, was accepted
by the committee. E. c. Wakefield was
then chosen builder or superintendent
of construction, and the work began in
earnest a week later, or as soon as
the site could be cleaned up and
made ready for the carpenters. The
framework of the palace is entirely
of pine, and the style of architecture
suggests castle more than anything
else, several distinct styles being blend
ed to make symmetrical building of
suitable size,
AND OF STRIKING APPEARANCE.
The palace Is 24O by 120 feet in size,
and the main feature is tower, 1S6 feet
from the pavement to the base of the
Flagstaff. This tower is forty feet
square at the base through which is the
main entrance. 1t decreases in size with
the several floor elevations, and
at the height of 80 and 100
feet, respectively, there are balconies
which are reached by easy stairs. This
main tower is fianked on either side by
smaller towers and pinnacles with Orna-
mental balconies. From the balconies
TO the different stories of the towers are
light bridges, and flying buttresses
connect the angles of the towers with
slender buttress piers at the corners of
the main tower terrace. The outside
decorations have already been described
adequately in these columns, and it is
sufficient to say that they very much
excel those of the two former palaces.
1t is on the interior of the palace that
the finely artistic work has been dis