MITCHELL

city, seat of Davison county, southeastern South Dakota, U.S., in the James River valley by Firesteel Creek (there dammed to form Lake Mitchell). Established in 1879 as a railroad town, it was named for Alexander Mitchell, president of the Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul Railroad. Its farm-based economy (corn , livestock, and dairying) is supplemented by light manufacturing and tourism (chiefly in the pheasant-hunting season). The Mitchell Corn Palace (built 1921, replacing an original built in 1892) is a unique Byzantine structure decorated annually with corn and distinguished by minarets and towers. Dakota Wesleyan University (1885) is in the city. Inc. 1883. Pop. (1991 est.) 13,936.