Inspired by the Midwestern prairie, Frank Lloyd Wright designed
buildings in harmony with the flat, expansive landscape. They
rest low and horizontal, with broad overhanging eaves. This
architecture, together with that of several colleagues, became
known as the Prairie School. According to Wright, this was a new
and distinctly American architecture. This summer, eighty
schoolteachers from across the country will converge on Mason
City, Iowa, to study this pioneering work in “Frank Lloyd Wright
and the Prairie School in the Midwest.” The program is supported
by the National Endowment for the Humanities through its
Landmarks of American History and Culture program. The teachers
will attend lectures and discussions with leading scholars and
visit buildings designed by Wright, Walter and Marion Mahoney
Griffin, and several others. They will also create new classroom
materials to bring the workshop back to their students. Mason
City, Iowa, population 28,000, boasts the largest collection of
Prairie School architec