Q 01/05

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

A) Alaska

B) Ohio

C) Texas

D) Maryland

Answer · why

B) Ohio

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.

Q 02/05

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

A) Hawaii

B) Arizona

C) New Mexico

D) Alaska

Answer · why

D) Alaska

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-n...

Q 03/05

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

A) Hawaii

B) Maine

C) Massachusetts

D) Georgia

Answer · why

A) Hawaii

Hawaii's canton recalls the British flag that Captain George Vancouver presented to Kamehameha I in the 1790s, which flew unofficially over the island...

Q 04/05

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

A) Vermont

B) Utah

C) Texas

D) Nevada

Answer · why

C) Texas

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 An 1879 revision of the statutes left the flag law out and so repealed it, l...

Q 05/05

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

A) Joseph Pulitzer

B) William Randolph Hearst

C) Edward Willis Scripps

D) Harrison Gray Otis

Answer · why

B) William Randolph Hearst

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