100 Fun Facts About US State Flags

Which is the only US state flag that is not rectangular?

The swallowtail 'burgee' was designed by John Eisenmann in 1901; its 17 stars mark Ohio as the 17th state and the disc suggests the letter O.

Which state's flag, adopted in 1927, was designed by schoolboy Benny Benson for a territorial contest?

Alaska chose his eight gold stars, the Big Dipper and Polaris, on a blue field. Benson said the blue stood for the Alaskan sky and for the forget-me-not, a local flower.

Which state flag features the Union Jack of the United Kingdom in its canton?

Hawaii's canton recalls the British flag that Captain George Vancouver presented to Kamehameha I in the 1790s, which flew unofficially over the islands until 1816. The eight stripes stand for the eight main islands.

Which mainland state's flag once served as the national flag of an independent country?

Texas adopted the Lone Star Flag in 1839 as its republic's national flag. An 1879 revision of the statutes left the flag law out and so repealed it, leaving the state with no legal flag until 1933.

The grizzly on California's flag is said to be modelled on Monarch, a bear captured in 1889 for which newspaper magnate?

William Randolph Hearst ordered the capture as a publicity stunt for his San Francisco Examiner. Monarch then spent 22 years caged in the city.

Which state's flag is the heraldic banner of the Calvert family, the English barons who founded the colony?

Maryland quarters the Calverts' black and gold with the red and white of the Crosslands, the first baron's maternal family. In the Civil War the two sets of colours marked its Union and Confederate sides.

The red sun on a yellow field, adopted as a state flag in 1925, comes from which Native American people?

The Zia hold the number four sacred, so their sun has four groups of four rays: for the directions, the seasons, the times of day and the stages of life.

Which flag topped a 2001 North American Vexillological Association survey of 72 state, territorial and provincial flags?

New Mexico's red sun on yellow beat Texas into second place. Its two colours are those of Spain, which once ruled the region.

The orange-coloured star at the centre of Arizona's flag represents what?

The state's copper production gives the star its metallic colour. The red and yellow rays above it suggest a desert sunset and borrow the colours of the Spanish flag, a nod to the early explorers.

The gold disc inside the red C on Colorado's flag represents what?

The state's abundant sunshine was the first meaning given for the disc when the flag was adopted in 1911. The second was gold itself, the metal that drew many early settlers.

The palmetto tree on South Carolina's flag honours the tree's role in what?

Absorbing British cannon fire at Fort Moultrie was the work of spongy palmetto logs: in June 1776 the soft wood took the fleet's cannonballs without shattering, and the warships withdrew.

Which state adopted a brand-new flag in January 2021, featuring a magnolia blossom and 21 stars?

Mississippi voters approved the design in a November 2020 referendum, months after lawmakers retired the 1894 flag, which carried the Confederate battle emblem in its corner.

On the magnolia flag a Deep South state adopted in 2021, what does the lone gold star represent?

The state's Native American tribes are honoured by the gold star, which sits apart from the 20 white stars that mark the 20th state to join the Union.

The Peach State's flag adopted in 2003 is based on which historic banner?

The Confederacy's first national one, the Stars and Bars, gave the design its three red and white bars and blue canton. Voters confirmed the new flag in a March 2004 referendum.

Which state's 2024 flag features a gold beehive above a white star inside a blue hexagon?

Utah's beehive stands for the state motto, 'Industry', and goes back to Deseret, the Mormon settlers' name for the territory, a word they took to mean honeybee.

Which state adopted a new state flag that took effect in May 2024?

Minnesota's flag sets an eight-pointed North Star, for the state motto 'Star of the North', on a dark blue shape that echoes the state's outline. It took effect on 11 May, the anniversary of statehood.

Which state's flag has a white silhouette of an American bison bearing the state seal on its side?

Wyoming's bison wears the state seal on its flank like a brand, a nod to the Western custom of branding livestock. Verna Keays won a 1916 design contest with it.

Which is the only US state flag with a different design on each side?

Oregon shows the shield from its seal on the front and a gold beaver on the back. Two-sided state flags were once common, but most were dropped because they cost so much to make.

Which is the only US state flag with a green field?

Washington's green suits the Evergreen State, and the seal at its centre carries a portrait of the state's namesake. It had no official flag until 1923, more than 30 years after statehood.

Tennessee's flag designer said the stars on it stand for what?

The state's Grand Divisions, East, Middle and West Tennessee, are what LeRoy Reeves said his three stars meant when he designed the flag in 1905. The circle around them binds the three into one state.

Rhode Island's flag shows a gold anchor and 13 stars above which one-word motto?

Hope has sat with the anchor on Rhode Island's seal since the seventeenth century. The pairing was probably inspired by a biblical line that speaks of hope as 'an anchor of the soul'.

Which state's flag was ranked worst of 72 in a 2001 vexillology survey for violating 'all the principles of good flag design'?

Georgia's 2001 flag crammed the state seal, lettering and five miniature historic flags into one design, which one survey respondent mocked as 'Five Flags Under Georgia'. The state scrapped it in 2003.

Which state's flag flew upside down over its capitol for ten days in 2017 before anyone noticed?

Nebraska's own state senator Burke Harr revealed the mistake. He said the fact that nobody had spotted it showed it was time for a new design.

Oklahoma's flag shows a war shield of which Native American nation?

Osage warriors' shield replaced a red flag bearing the number 46, dropped in 1925 because red flags had come to suggest communism. The pipe and olive branch laid across the shield both stand for peace.

Which state's flag rings a gold torch with 19 stars, marking its place as the 19th state in the Union?

Indiana's law sets 13 stars in an outer circle for the original states, five inside for those that followed and one larger star above the flame for itself. Paul Hadley's design won a 1916 contest.

Louisiana's flag shows a pelican doing what?

Tearing its breast to feed its young is something real pelicans never do, but the image has stood for self-sacrifice since the Middle Ages. Louisiana was using it on its state seal by 1812.

Which two state flags consist of a red diagonal cross (saltire) on a white field?

Alabama and Florida both fly a red diagonal cross on white. Alabama's dates from 1895; Florida added the cross to its white flag in 1900, reportedly so that it would not be taken for a flag of surrender.

Which state's flag centres on a white diamond because in 1913 it was the only state producing diamonds?

Arkansas adopted Willie Hocker's design in 1913. The 25 white stars on the blue band around the diamond mark it as the 25th state to join the Union.

The wreath on Nevada's flag is made of which plant, the state flower?

Sagebrush sprays cradle a silver star for the Silver State. The scroll above them reads 'Battle Born', because Nevada joined the Union in 1864, during the Civil War.

Kansas's flag pairs the state seal with which flower?

Sunflower, the state flower, sits above the seal on a twisted blue and gold bar. In 1953 Kansas also adopted a second official banner that is simply one large sunflower on blue.

Which state's flag sets a bald eagle on blue, white and red stripes recalling the French Tricolour?

Iowa was part of French Louisiana before the purchase of 1803. Dixie Gebhardt designed the banner in 1917 for Iowa troops who had no state flag to carry, and it became official in 1921.

Which animal rests beneath a pine tree on Maine's flag?

A moose lies at the foot of the pine, between a farmer leaning on a scythe and a sailor leaning on an anchor, who stand for Maine's land and sea. The North Star above goes with the motto Dirigo, 'I lead'.

What does December 7, 1787, on Delaware's flag mark?

It became the first state to ratify the Constitution on that date, with Pennsylvania next, which is why Delaware calls itself the First State.

Connecticut's flag shows a shield bearing three of what?

Grapevines, not the Charter Oak of the state quarter: the three are thought to stand for Connecticut's earliest settlements or the colonies that merged to form it. They picture the motto, 'He who transplanted still sustains'.

Which state's flag shows crossed rifles and a liberty cap at the feet of a farmer and a miner?

West Virginia's rifles and cap picture its motto, 'Mountaineers are always free'. The mountain counties broke from Virginia in 1861 rather than follow it into the Confederacy.

Which state's flag carries a crescent moon to mark it as the second state formed from the Louisiana Territory?

Missouri followed Louisiana into the Union, and in heraldry a crescent is the mark of a second son. It sits above a grizzly bear on the seal at the flag's centre.

Which state's flag shows the Revolutionary War frigate Raleigh under construction in 1776 beside Portsmouth harbour?

New Hampshire's seal shows the Raleigh still on the stocks in 1776. Look closely and the ship is flying a national flag that was not adopted until 1777.

The District of Columbia flag, three red stars over two red bars, is based on whose coat of arms?

The first president's English ancestors had these arms confirmed at Sulgrave Manor in 1592, and he put them on his own silver, seals and carriages. The tale that they inspired the Stars and Stripes has no evidence behind it.

North Dakota's flag is an almost exact copy of a regimental banner carried by state troops in which war?

The Philippine-American War followed straight on from the Spanish-American War, and the First North Dakota Infantry carried this banner through both in 1898 and 1899. John Fraine, who had commanded those troops, got it adopted in 1911.

South Dakota's flag spells out which nickname beneath the seal?

The Mount Rushmore State replaced 'The Sunshine State' on the flag in 1992. The rays blazing around the seal are left over from the older design, which showed the sun itself.

Which state's attorney general gave staff lapel pins in 2010 that covered the bare breast on its seal?

Virginia's seal draws Virtus as an Amazon in the classical manner, with one breast bare. The pins Ken Cuccinelli handed out covered it with an armoured breastplate.

Which state's flag shows Liberty with a royal crown cast down at her foot, beside a blindfolded Justice?

New York put the crown under Liberty's foot to mark its freedom from British rule. Justice wears her blindfold for impartiality and carries a sword and scales.

The most common design pattern among US state flags is what?

A seal on a plain blue field comes down from the blue regimental colours that state troops carried in the 1800s, which is why so many look alike. Flag enthusiasts call the pattern a 'seal on a bedsheet'.

Which state put a flag redesign to voters in November 2024, only to see the new design lose?

Maine voters kept the blue flag bearing the state arms by about 55% to 45%. The losing design revived the state's 1901 flag, a lone pine tree and a blue North Star.

Which state's flag shows a sailor and a miner holding a shield, with the animal from the state's nickname perched on top?

Wisconsin's badger recalls the early lead miners who sheltered in holes dug into the hillsides and were nicknamed 'badgers'. The state's name and 1848 were added later because the flag was hard to tell from other blue ones.

Which state's flag has a buff field, the colour George Washington chose in 1779 for the facings of its regiments' coats?

New Jersey's buff goes back to 1779, when George Washington ordered its Continental regiments into dark blue coats faced with buff. The three ploughs on the arms at the centre stand for the state's farming.

Which state's flag carries a Latin motto meaning 'If you seek a pleasant peninsula, look about you'?

Michigan adopted the motto in 1835, when it is thought to have meant only the Lower Peninsula. Most of the Upper Peninsula arrived with statehood in 1837, as compensation for a strip of land lost to Ohio.

Which state's flag shows a plough, pick and shovel beside the Great Falls, above the Spanish motto 'Oro y plata'?

Montana added its name in 1981 because the flag was hard to tell from other blue ones. In 1985 lawmakers went further and fixed the typeface in law: Helvetica Bold.

What does the blue shield on the Massachusetts flag show, a design that goes back to the colony's 1629 seal?

A Native American figure holding an arrow pointed down, a sign of peace, goes back to the Bay Colony's seal of 1629. On that first seal he was given the words 'Come over and help us'.

Besides Florida, which two states fly flags bearing the words 'In God We Trust'?

Georgia and Mississippi both added the words this century. Georgia's flag has carried them since 2001, and Mississippi's 2020 law ordering a new flag required the design to include them.

Which South American country's one-star flag in red, white and blue is often mistaken for Texas's?

Chile first flew its flag in 1817, two decades before Texas adopted its own, and Chileans also know theirs as the Lone Star, La Estrella Solitaria.

Popular myth says only Texas's banner may do what, though federal code lets every state?

Any state banner may fly level with the US flag under the US Flag Code, so long as the Stars and Stripes takes the place of honour on its own right.

Which star pattern sits beside the North Star on Alaska's dark blue flag?

The Big Dipper stands for strength as part of the Great Bear, while the lone eighth star marks Alaska as the most northerly state in the Union.

Why did Oklahoma replace its first banner, a white star on a red field?

It evoked communism's red flag, so a 1924 contest replaced it with a sky-blue design by Louise Fluke of Shawnee.

Which mission took small flags of all 50 states to the Moon, later mounted in Nixon's 1970 gifts?

Apollo 11 carried the flags to the Moon and back, and each state then received its own on a plaque beside four rice-sized specks of lunar dust.

What do the alternating white, red and blue stripes on Hawaii's flag stand for?

Its eight main islands each get a stripe on a design kept unchanged since 1845, through the fall of the monarchy, US annexation and statehood.

A 2005 Ohio law born of a Boy Scout's project gives a 17-stage routine for doing what to the state flag?

Folding it takes two people and 17 folds, one for Ohio's place as the 17th state, in a routine Alex Weinstock devised for his Eagle Scout service project.

The seal on Florida's flag was redrawn in 1985 to remove which feature the state does not have?

Mountains had loomed behind the seal's steamboat since 1868, and the same redraw swapped a misidentified cocoa palm for the native sabal palm.

Which two-word motto on Nevada's flag recalls that the state joined the Union during the Civil War?

Battle Born sits on a golden scroll above a silver star, the star being a nod to Nevada's other famous nickname, the Silver State.

The seal on Washington's state flag began in 1889 with a jeweller pasting what inside two circles?

A postage stamp of George Washington was jeweller Charles Talcott's fix for a cluttered official sketch; he traced the rings around an ink bottle and a silver dollar.

Which state's flag shows a frontiersman embracing a statesman above sprigs of goldenrod?

Kentucky says the pair stand for all frontiersmen and statesmen together, though popular legend insists they are Daniel Boone and Henry Clay.

Which state's flag pairs a red cow and wheat sheaves with the motto 'Freedom and Unity'?

Vermont once flew a striped flag so easily confused with the Stars and Stripes that in 1923 it switched to the governor's blue banner instead.

The red disc inside a white ring on Ohio's flag stands for the letter O and which nut?

Buckeye nuts gave Ohio its nickname, and architect John Eisenmann drew the emblem for the state's building at the 1901 Pan-American Exposition.

West Virginia's flag bears a Latin motto declaring that which people are always free?

Mountaineers, the 'Montani' of 'Montani semper liberi', get their motto on a red ribbon beneath a boulder carved with the date of statehood.

Virginia's flag shows Virtue standing over a fallen king above a Latin motto meaning what?

Thus always to tyrants, or 'Sic semper tyrannis', is a line attributed to Brutus at the killing of Julius Caesar; the beaten king clutches a broken chain and a useless whip.

Kansas's flag bears a Latin motto promising a journey through difficulties to where?

The stars, the 'astra' of 'Ad astra per aspera', also appear in the seal itself as a cluster of 34, marking Kansas as the 34th state.

Which Latin motto, usually translated 'Ever Upward', sits beneath the shield on New York's flag?

Excelsior stood alone beneath the shield until 2020, when lawmakers added a second motto, E pluribus unum, to the state's arms, seal and flag.

The red and gold rays on Arizona's flag echo the colours carried by which country's early explorers?

Spain's red and gold travelled with Coronado's expedition of 1540, and the 13 rays double as a tribute to the original colonies.

Which word follows the state's name beneath the grizzly on California's Bear Flag?

Republic recalls a few weeks in 1846, from about June 14 to July 9, when rebel settlers declared California independent before the US Navy took over.

The guide 'Good Flag, Bad Flag', cited in state redesigns, says a flag should be simple enough for whom to draw?

A child drawing it from memory is the first of five principles in Ted Kaye's guide; another bans lettering and seals outright.

Which state added its name to its flag in 1970 because a Vietnam sailor found few people recognised it?

Illinois acted on a petition from Chief Petty Officer Bruce McDaniel, and Governor Richard Ogilvie signed the change into law in September 1969.

Which state's flag carries the dates of the Mecklenburg Declaration and the Halifax Resolves?

North Carolina's first flag, adopted on joining the Confederacy in 1861, paired the Mecklenburg date with the day the state seceded.

Which state's flag shows two rearing black horses beside a shield with a ship, a plough and wheat?

Pennsylvania tops the shield with an eagle and sets the motto 'Virtue, Liberty, and Independence' beneath it; the horses wear harness as draught animals.

Which state's flag carries the only US state seal designed by a woman, artist Emma Edwards Green?

Idaho used Emma Edwards Green's seal, in which a woman signifying justice stands beside a miner, from the 1890s until it was lightly redrawn in 1957.

In which northern California town did rebels first raise the Bear Flag in June 1846?

Sonoma flew the flag for under a month before a US Navy lieutenant hauled it down, and a replica still hangs in the town's old barracks.

California's Bear Flag of June 1846 was designed by a relative of which future First Lady?

Mary Todd Lincoln's kinsman William Todd lettered the flag in ink, got one letter wrong and, with nothing to remove the marks, wrote the right one over it.

The red C on Colorado's flag stands for the state's name, 'centennial' and which state flower?

Columbine shares the letter with 'centennial' because Colorado joined the Union in 1876, the hundredth year of American independence.

Which farm animal stands on the shield of Delaware's flag, below a wheat sheaf and an ear of corn?

An ox stands for Delaware's farming, and the shield around it is held up by a farmer on one side and a soldier on the other.

Which two-word motto, a nod to an 1869 law, flies from a staff on the seal of Wyoming's flag?

Equal Rights marks the 1869 act that gave Wyoming's women the vote, and the figure holding the banner has broken chains hanging from her wrists.

Which lineage society ran the contests that produced the flags of Oklahoma, Indiana and Wyoming?

Daughters of the American Revolution chapters ran all three contests between 1916 and 1924, and Wyoming's winner, Verna Keays, said her design came to her in a dream.

Arizona's flag grew out of a banner made for which kind of National Guard squad?

A rifle team from Arizona was the only squad without an emblem of any kind at the 1910 rifle competition at Camp Perry, so its captain, Colonel Charles Harris, had one made.

Which Roman goddess stands opposite Liberty on New Jersey's flag, holding a horn of plenty?

Ceres, goddess of agriculture, embodies the second half of the state motto, 'Liberty and Prosperity', and has that word written beneath her.

Which one-word state motto sits above the shield in the coat of arms on Wisconsin's flag?

Forward was joined on the flag by the state's name and the year 1848 in a 1979 change, made so that it would stand out among other states' banners.

Montana's flag copies the blue banner that the state's volunteer infantry carried in which war?

The Spanish–American War banner, made by Harry Kessler for his First Montana Infantry, became the state flag in 1905, and the word Montana was added above the seal only in 1981.

The crescent on South Carolina's flag copies a silver emblem Revolutionary War troops wore where?

On their caps is where the state's first regiments wore a silver crescent, so in 1775 their colonel put one on a signal flag as blue as their coats.

Until 1971 the Massachusetts flag had a second design on its reverse, a blue shield bearing what?

A green pine tree had been urged for the reverse by Governor Curtis Guild in 1906, and the tree still flies on the state's naval and maritime flag.

By LeRoy Reeves's account, why does Tennessee's flag end in a blue bar at the outer edge?

To break up the crimson was his whole reason: Reeves said the bar relieves the sameness of the field and stops the flag showing too much red when it hangs limp.

Connecticut's flag motto, 'Qui transtulit sustinet', says that he who did what still sustains?

Transplanted is the usual reading of a motto first seen on the seal Colonel George Fenwick brought from England for Saybrook Colony in 1639, which passed to Connecticut in 1644.

From 1929 to 1991, Nevada's flag spelled out the state's name in which unusual arrangement?

Around the points of its star was not what lawmakers had agreed in 1929: a researcher spotted the drafting slip in 1989, and a 1991 law moved the letters.

A 2011 resolution fixed an 89-year-old mistake on Utah's flag: what had been stitched out of place?

The date 1847 was stitched just above 1896 instead of on the shield by a flag maker in 1922, and it is believed every later flag was copied from that one.

The North Star above the shield on Maine's flag illustrates the motto 'Dirigo', Latin for what?

I lead, also rendered 'I direct', is lettered on a label under the star, which hangs above a farmer resting on a scythe and a seaman resting on an anchor.

Banners on the three pillars of Georgia's flag read Wisdom, Justice and which third virtue?

Moderation completes a motto wrapped around pillars that stand for the three branches of government, beneath an arch symbolising the state's constitution.

By Maryland law, a pole flying the state flag may be topped only by which ornament, finished in gold?

A cross bottony, its arms ending in trefoils, also appears in red and white on the flag itself, and it has been the only permitted pole ornament since 1945.

The ribbon beneath the pelican on Louisiana's flag carries the motto Union, Justice and what?

Confidence closes a motto that flew with the pelican well before the flag became official in 1912; the bird itself has been on the state seal since 1812.

Under the Texas Flag Code, blue stands for loyalty and white for purity; what does red stand for?

Bravery completes the trio, and the same code says the single star represents all of Texas and stands for unity as one for God, state and country.

Which Native American object lies across the shield on Oklahoma's flag, crossed by an olive branch?

A calumet, or peace pipe, gets a ruby red bowl and tassel under the flag law, and with the olive branch it signals a love of peace by a united people.

On the seal at the centre of Florida's flag, what is a Seminole woman shown doing on the shore?

Scattering flowers has been her task since an 1868 resolution, though older versions wrongly gave her a feathered headdress, which Seminole women did not wear.

The contest that produced Arkansas's flag began with a plan to present a state banner to what?

A new battleship, USS Arkansas, was meant to receive the gift until the secretary of state admitted that no flag existed, and 65 designs were then sent in.

Iowa's flag was created in 1917 after its National Guardsmen asked for a banner while posted where?

On the Mexican border, Iowa's guardsmen found that other states had flags to represent them while Iowa had none; the banner designed in 1917 became official only in 1921.

Besides the sky, the blue field of Alaska's flag was said by its designer to stand for which flower?

Forget-me-not blue shares the field with gold stars, a colour said to stand for the wealth that lies hidden in Alaska's hills and streams.