California Flag

June 22, 2009 ~ Stacey Patrick ~ Leave a comment

The California flag has perhaps one of the most interesting histories of any state flag in the Union. The original version of the California flag was first flown in the year 1846 during the Bear Flag Revolt. Because of the obvious Bear in the middle of the California flag, the California flag has also been called the Bear Flag.

The California flag was first designed by William L. Todd, the nephew of Mary Todd – wife of Abraham Lincoln. According to reports, the star on the California flag was actually influenced by the 1836 California Lone Star Flag. The original California flag was actually designed in blackberry juice, and the bear on the California flag was designed to be a symbol of strength and unyielding resistance.
The first version of the California flag represented California for only a brief time – from June 14th to July 9th, 1846. On July 7th, 1846 Commodore John Drake Sloat of the US Navyfirst raised the 28-star American flag at the capital of California, thus claiming the territory for the United States. Two days later, on July 9, 1846, Joseph Warren Revere of the United States Navy hauled down the California Bear Flag in Sonoma, and replaced it with the American Stars and Stripes. The California Bear Flag was then given to a young man by the name of John E. Montgomery, who later wrote in a letter to his mother, “Cuffy came down growling”. “Cuffy” was Montgomery’s nickname for the bear on the California flag.

The original California flag was eventually returned to California in 1855 when it was given to California Senators William M. Gwin and John B Weller. The original California Flag was preserved at the Pioneer Halls in San Francisco until it was destroyed on April 18, 1906 in the fires that followed the great San Francisco earthquake.

Arkansas Flag

June 11, 2009June 11, 2009 ~ Stacey Patrick ~ 1 Comment

The Arkansas Flag consists of a red field decorated with a large white diamond with a blue border. The Arkansas flag contains twenty nine five-pointed stars. Twenty-five small white stars appear within the blue border, and four larger blue stars appear in the white diamond. The word “ARKANSAS” appears in blue inside the white diamond, with one star above and three below.

The design for the Arkansas Flag was created by Willie Kavanaugh Hocker of Wabbaseka in the year 1912. In 1912, Daughters of the American Revolution of the Pine Bluff chapter wanted to create an official Arkansas Flag to present for the commissioning of the battleship USS Arkansas.

When it was originally discovered that Arkansas did not yet have a state flag, the Daughters of the American Revolution decided to sponsor a contest to design an official Arkansas Flag. Willie Hocker, a member of the Pine Bluff chapter of the Daughters, won the contest with a design that is similar to the current Arkansas Flag. Mrs. Hocker designed a flag that consisted of three blue stars in the middle of a white diamond, however the word “ARKANSAS” was omitted. At the request of Secretary of State Earle Hodges, chairman of the Arkansas Flag committee, Hocker eventually added the word “ARKANSAS” and also rearranged the stars to their current design and location. This version of the Arkansas Flag was adopted by the legislature on February 26, 1913.

In 1923, the legislature decided to alter the Arkansas Flag, and added a fourth star to represent the Confederate States of America. This fourth star was originally placed on the Arkansas Flag so that there were two stars above the state name along with two below. This design for the Arkansas flag was meant to include the Confederacy alongside France, Spain, and the United States. This however disturbed the other two meanings of the original three stars, and so it was corrected by the legislature in 1924. The Confederate star was eventually above “ARKANSAS” and the original three stars were placed below it, just as it is today.

Free American Flag Giveaway

June 8, 2009June 9, 2009 ~ Tommy McLaughlin ~ Leave a comment

The United States Flag Store to give away 2,000 free American Flags

New Stanton, PA June 5, 2009– The United States Flag Store announced plans today to give away 2,000 American flags for free on a first-come, first-served basis. The announcement comes on the heels of the company’s latest endeavor into the rapidly growing world of social media – most notably, Twitter.

In celebration of their debut onto one of the fastest growing websites in recent history, the United States Flag Store plans to give out 2,000 2 ½’ x 4’ Annin American flags for free to their next 2,000 Twitter followers. Thanks again to the world’s largest online flag store, customers all over the world are now only a simple mouse click away from receiving a free American flag, just in time for the 4th of July.

This latest promotion by the United States Flag Store is sure to generate some well deserved attention for the company, who has continued to experience truly unprecedented growth since its inception in early 2001 – due in large part to their truly incredible product line.

About the United States Flag Store
The United States Flag Store is the single largest part of the Online Stores, Inc. family. Founded by Lisa and Kevin Hickey in 2002, Online Stores, Inc. is a rapidly growing, family owned company based near Pittsburgh, PA. Three times voted among America’s Top 500 Internet Retailers, Online Stores operates nine internet retail stores including the United States Flag Store, the most popular retail flag website, and the English Tea Store, the second most popular tea website as ranked by Alexa.com.

For your free flag, be sure to visit http://flags.me/special-events today!

Arizona Flag

June 5, 2009June 5, 2009 ~ Tommy McLaughlin ~ 2 Comments

The Arizona Flag originated in the year 1910, when the head of the Arizona National Guard, Colonel Charles W. Harris set out to design a flag for the Arizona Rifle Team at the National Matches of that year. In prior years, Arizona had been the only team to compete at the National Matches without a flag, thus the Arizona Flag as we know it today was born.

The Arizona Flag consists of 13 rays of red and gold on the top half of the flag. These rays supposedly represent both the rays of the Western setting sun as well as the original 13 counties of Arizona. The actual red and gold colors likely originate from the flags of the conquistadors of Spain. Red and gold were the colors carried by Coronado in his search of the Seven Cities of Cibola in the year 1540.

The Arizona Flag also contains a copper colored star in the center of the flag, which represents the copper mining industry in Arizona. At the time of inception of the Arizona Flag, Arizona was the largest producer of copper in the nation. The rest of the flag is colored blue, which – just as the American Flag– is meant to represent liberty.

The Arizona Flag was adopted as the official flag on February 17, 1917 by the third state legislature. Interestingly enough, it was actually passed into law without the signature of then Governor Thomas Campbell. To this day, there is no record of the governor ever issuing an official statement as to why he decided to not take action on the bill.

In a study done in 2001, the Arizona flag was voted among the top 10 best flags on the continent. The Arizona flag was ranked 6th out of 72 flags in North America for overall design and quality.

–Stacey Patrick