All aboard for Creston & the Blue Grass Palace

The Blue Grass Palace of 1889

Had you been alive and kicking at this time of year 130 years ago, the golly-gee-whiz attraction in the south of Iowa would have been the magnificent Blue Grass Palace at Creston, which opened with considerable fanfare on Aug. 20 and remained a major attraction until Sept. 7. Special-fare excursion trains left the C.B.&Q. Depot in Chariton at 7:30 a.m. daily, arriving in Creston after stops along the way at 9:50 a.m. The return trip commenced in Creston at 6:50 p.m. and weary visitors arrived home in Chariton at 9:10 p.m.

The palace, which celebrated the variety of grass that made southwest Iowa the best grazing land in the nation as the 19th century neared its end, was the product of an 18-county consortium, including Lucas --- The Bluegrass League. It had taken its inspiration from Sioux City's 1887 Corn Palace and would help to inspire Ottumwa's Coal Palace (1890-1892) and Forest City's Flax Palace (1892-93).

The goal was to provide a showcase both to celebrate regionally and to wow a broader audience with the natural and manufactured resources of south central and southwestern Iowa. The building that opened on Aug. 20 was 100 feet square with a central tower that was 92 feet tall, of frame construction but dressed with blue grass and other natural commodities.

The palace was such a hit that before September 1890 rolled around it had been expanded threefold (below). It continued to be an attraction until 1892, when its useful life ended. In fact, the "palace era" ended all across Iowa that year for reasons that are obscure now.

The Blue Grass Palace of 1890-92

But there was a lot of excitement during the fall of 1889 and hundreds of Lucas Countyans headed west. The principal attraction in the Lucas County booth was a 5,000-pound chunk of coal measuring three feet by five feet and said to be the finest chunk ever mined in Iowa. It was provided by the Whitebreast Coal Co. of Cleveland.

Aug. 27 was Lucas County Day at the palace, featuring lengthy orations in the auditorium by six of the county's most eloquent speakers --- all addressing the wonders of Lucas County and (if they were politicians) the wonders of themselves.

As August neared its end, an unidentified woman from Chariton toured the palace, returned home and wrote a detailed report of what she saw --- duly published in The Chariton Herald of Sept. 5 under the headline "Blue Grass Palace!" (with an exclamation point). Here it is:

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The following excellent description of the exhibits by the several Counties comprising the Blue Grass League of Southwest Iowa as made in the Blue Grass Palace at Creston is contributed by a lady friend of the Herald who visited the Palace last week and to whom the Herald is under great obligations:

Passing through the grand archway on the south, the first booth which attracts the sight seer on entering the Palace is that of Appanoose county, where is seen a fine display of coal, the county's chief product; fruits and vegetables which prove the fertility of the soil.

Pottawattamie county next claims the attention, delighting the eye by the artistic arrangement of fruit and vegetables interspersed with flowers, justly claiming the palm for variety. The "Pottawattamie Chief," manufactured of siberian crabs (a variety of apple), and the window arrayed in a dress of millet, grass and wheat come in for their share of admiration.

Mills county claims the largest fruit, producing apples 17 ounces in weight, and extraordinary raspberries from a bush of but one year's growth. They proudly showed a section of soil of 9 feet in depth, and grape vines 17 inches in circumference. The entire booth was beautifully decorated with grasses.

Taylor county made good its claim of being one of the first counties in the state by its abundant display of fine fruits, vegetables and grains; the decorations of apples and grasses festooned on the ceiling and walls presented a very pleasing appearance.

We were pardonably proud of portions of our Lucas county exhibit. The school work was conceded by all to be the finest in the building; the honey, in its sweet way, claimed the banner; a piece of coal weighing 5,000 pounds seemed, by its magnitude, to defy the chilling blasts; also in this booth were to be seen a fair display of fruits, vegetables, and the average quantity of specimen grasses.

The first thing presented to the visitor on entering the Adair county booth is a life sized sheep made of oats, near which is a large horse made of blue grass; a neat piece of work is found in a large boot made of eleven thousand clover blossoms; besides the usual display of agricultural products, there were seen fine specimen of corn 15 feet, also cane 14 feet high.

One of the attractive features of the Adams county booth is the ceiling, a mat of wild rye and grasses with a beautiful center of colored corn arranged in various designs. Aside from the average display of agricultural products, there was a fine showing of 126 varieties of potatoes, also wood, tiling, brick and flagging stone. A large cotton plant on exhibit proves that even semi-tropical plants may be grown in our genial state.

Decatur county had a bountiful display of fine apples, pears, plums, canned fruits and seeds; some fine clover of second growth, grass seven feet and millet eight feet high, of which they were justly proud.

The Montgomery county booth was beautifully decorated with wheat in the sheaf; the windows were hung with strings of oats, straws and ash berries; the manufactures were pottery and a novelty in the way of bee hives, smoker and honey extractor.

Madison county varied in the style of display. A clock made of bean, turnip and squash seeds, a log cabin with the typical coon skin stretched to dry on one of its ample sides all presented a unique appearance. The soil in this county yields oats 38 pounds to the bushel and wheat 34 bushels to the acre. They quarry their own stone and dig the mineral from which they make their paints.

One of the pleasing features of the Page county exhibit was the pig and house of corn, the latter thatched with rye; the houses in this county are also made of bricks of their own manufacture. A plentiful display of brick and vegetables were arranged with good taste.

A person would not tire of looking for hours at the articles made from grass displayed in the Union county booth. The floor was covered with a carpet woven from grass, over which were spread rugs of grass in imitation of fur, tables of grass with flower design in seeds, reposing on which was an album of ribbon grass and vase of seeds; a fireplace made of seeds colored to represent tiling, the bricks made of red corn; curtains of pieces of rye straw and corn hung on a rod of slough grass; rocking chairs of grass and clover; lounge of colored grasses, woven in fancy patterns, on which was a pillow of woven grasses embroidered with crystalized golden rod. the "Blue Grass Belle," a life sized figure attired in a skirt of oats, with front panel of millet, a basque of burrs, hat of grains and fan of oats; the "Wheel of Commerce," a beautiful piece of workmanship, was constructed entirely of grain, the bands of the wheels were popcorn, tires of oats, spokes of grass, all mounted on sheaves of wheat, borne by wings of corn husks and oats which also supported the motto, "Commerce." The spinning wheel, decorated with flax, run by a figure of woman arrayed in antique style, brought to the mind the good times of long ago. We turned from the "Blue Grass Baby" reposing sweetly in a cradle of corn, covered by a quilt of woven grasses, to a beautiful representation of "Gates Ajar," the angel hovering above a gate of reeds, displaying great ingenuity and patience. As we turned away our eye was caught by the Husk family; H. Husk, wife and daughter, doll, valise and umbrella, all composed of husks.

Last, but far from least, is the Cass county exhibit of the several industries of their county. Arranged to good advantage were boxes of starch, cornstarch, laundry and toilet soaps; cholera powders for chickens, condition powders for horses, and a fine grade of canned corn. Also on exhibit were fine specimens of every variety of fruit and vegetable.