Mitchell, South Dakota

“We are fortunate that we have two schools and they work very well together,” says Putnam. “Mitchell Technical College is a two year school that offers career and technical programs. Dakota Wesleyan University is a smaller liberal arts college that was founded by the Methodist Church prior to statehood. MTC and DWU are nationally recognized and they are a model of how two institutions collaborate in offering students both a technical and a traditional collegiate experience. A famous DWU alumnus is politician and 1972 Democratic presidential candidate George McGovern. We have a McGovern library and he used to live across the street from there. He and his wife went to school here and he subsequently became a history professor here. So this is McGovern’s hometown.” The city’s demographic puts the average age of the population in the 30s, with a mix of students and seniors. “Those technical jobs that I mentioned are ideal for working families, so they have a lot of younger employees,” Putnam says. “I would say we are pretty diverse, at least in regard to age.” In the spirit of problem solving like the Corn Palace, Mitchell is currently working on several projects to improve infrastructure and recreation in the city. Like many aging towns, Mitchell’s infrastructure has reached the time for upgrades .“Those are the big challenges that a lot of the small towns throughout the nation are experiencing,” says Kyle Croce, Director of Public Works. “We are focused on improvements for infrastructure.” One of those improvements is building a new water storage tank to better suit the needs of the city residents. “It’s under design,” Croce explains. “We bought the property for our new water storage tank and that will increase our reserve and supply – it’s a two and a half million gallon tank. The project will start construction next year and last two years until completion.” The new tank is a major upgrade to Mitchell’s Courtsey of Mitchell Technical College