The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1903-09-25
A HANDSOME STRUCTURE
Exterior of Corn Palace Building
Decorated in a Manner Ar
tistic with Corn and Grains.

tistic with Corn and Grains.
One Of the attractive features of
the corn palace and what the man.
agement spends a good deal of money
for is the Identification of the ex-
terror walls of the building. These
decorations are left on the building
from one year to another and the
structure Is always a standing adver-
tisement Of the products of the
county and state.
The work Of decorating this year,
as on the four other OCCASIONS, was
done by A. Robe, Of Lawrence. Kan.
In this line Of work Mr.. Robe is par
ticularly gifted and he will still have
an opportunity to further show his
skill in this direction, as he has
been engaged by the state committee
to decorate the co1n palace for South
Dakota at the St. Louis exposition
next year.
The building this year was slightly
reEodeled and the decorations that
cover 1T have not been surpassed in
any previous year. Commencing at
the base of the building and for
about four feet up 1T is covered with
sugar cane stalks, but the meme
of design OF former years is relieved
by narrow strips Of red background,
which are filed in with buttons of
white corn. The general form of
decoration is drawn on Mosaic and
geometrical lines, while arabesque
figures have been used to some extent.
With these three there is hardly any
limit to thu various figures and de-
signs that can be worked out with
the corn OF various colors.
Over the two south entrances are
large circles and in them are the con-
ventional daisies. Beneath is a half
wreath of red corn. The circle is
formed of Grecian border in yellow
corn. Above the circles are Mosaic
panels.
On the balcony gable the words
"Corn Belt Exposition-19O3" have
been worked out in good strong COL
ors, the shading effect being very
fine. On the rear wall of the balcony
was constructed a beautiful Tyre Of
yellow corn-a neat compliment to
the Banda Rosa.
The nine towers have been treated
in a splendid manner, and the ar
tistic effect is very striking. The
southwest corner tower is set off at
the top with tiling in colors, and be-
meath this is the browning design Of
the entire building. Two American
flags are draped and surmounted by
an American eagle. The flags are
done in red, white and blue corn,
while the field is solid blue, and the
eagle IS done in yellow. A corbel of
yellow which is treated double at the
bottom, supports the tower. The
other towers are treated with geomet-
1ical designs attractive and more pro-
nounced.
The west side of the building stands
out resplendent with several designs
that are prominent for their original
ity and conception. At the south
corner are a pair Of panels with a
feur de lis in the center. This is sur
rounded with a field of red corn that
is shaded artistically. There are two
Others IN the south side Of the
structure. In the west gable is con-
%structed an empire wreath and torch
in colored corn. Beneath are running
diagonal lines and tile work. Beneth
this are two large arabesques on each
side Of the window in which are the
letters S. D. Flax heads fill out the
design. Extending to the north Of
the building the decorations are lin.
ished in tile and Mosaic work.
The general color effect of the dec.
o1ations is heightened this year to
much larger extent than in former
years by reaso Of the colored corr
that was secured. The committee
early in the spring secured plenty O.
red corn and had it planted and a biz
harvest was reaped. With a largt
amount Of red:.corn the shading effect!
were made more pronounced and thu!
enhanced the beauty of the building
to a wonderful extent.
Mitchell has every reason to b.
proud of the achievement and visit
ors to the corn palace are not slow t.
express their hearty appreciation O
the motive power behind a project q
this character.