“A moth-eaten rag on a worm-eaten pole,
It doesn’t look likely to stir a man’s soul;
‘Tis the deeds that were done,
‘neath the moth-eaten rag,
when that pole was a staff and the rag was a flag.”
– British General Sir Edward Bruce Hamley (1824-1893)
The Flag, an icon of the cultural and historical, invoking inspiration and fear. Well, not always, I recently saw a “Hello Kitty” flag in someones van window and I was neither inspired nor fearful. Show me the Hello Kitty army and I might change my stance. There are volumes written about the study of flags or what is called vexillology, from the Latin word vexillum, meaning flag or banner. Today I’m going to focus on one particular flag, a flag I love; the Missouri State Flag.
Missouri did not have an official flag for nearly a century after achieving statehood. We can thank Mrs. Marie Elizabeth Oliver of Cape Girardeau, Missouri for fixing that. Mrs. Oliver was the head of the “Daughters of the American Revolution” committee and thought it high-time Missouri had a flag. And so her design was introduced in a bill to the Missouri state senate. It took three years and many attempts before the bill for the “Oliver flag” was finally passed. On March 22, 1913, Governor Elliot Major signed the bill into law, and made the Oliver flag the official state flag of Missouri.
What is the meaning in the symbols and design of the Missouri state flag? The three large stripes are symbolic of the people of the state—the blue stripe represents vigilance, permanency, and justice, the red represents valor, and the white stripe symbolizes purity. The Missouri coat-of-arms appears in the center of the flag, signifying both Missouri’s independence as a state, and its place as a part of the whole United States. Twenty-four stars surround the coat-of-arms, representative of Missouri’s position as the 24th state admitted to the Union.
You can still see the original “Oliver” Missouri state flag on display at the James C. Kirkpatrick State Information Center in Jefferson City. You can also get your very own Missouri state flag, from EDC. Not only that but you can get ANY U.S. state flag from EDC, as well as ANY country! We have flags and banners for all occasions and major holidays. If you need a flag we probably have it in our catalog, and if we don’t have it we can get it custom made just for you. Do you need flags? If you do just give us a call at 1-800-445-2946 and we’ll fix you right up. Thanks for reading!
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