The History Of Flag Day
The Fourth of July was traditionally celebrated as America's
birthday, but the idea of an annual day specifically celebrating
the Flag is believed to have first originated in 1885. BJ
Cigrand, a school teacher, arranged for the pupils in the
Fredonia, Wisconsin Public School, District 6, to observe June 14
(the 108th anniversary of the official adoption of The Stars and
Stripes) as Flag Birthday. In numerous magazines and newspaper
articles and public addresses over the following years, Cigrand
continued to enthusiastically advocate the observance of June 14
as Flag Birthday, or Flag Day.
On June 14, 1889, George Balch, a kindergarten teacher in
New York City, planned appropriate ceremonies for the children of
his school, and his idea of observing Flag Day was later adopted
by the State Board of Education of New York.
On June 14, 1891, the Betsy Ross House in Philadelphia held
a Flag Day celebration, and on June 14 of the following year, the
New York Society of the Sons of the Revolution, celebrated Flag
Day.
Following the suggestion of Colonel J Granville Leach (at
the time historian of the Pennsylvania Society of the Sons of the
Revolution), the Pennsylvania Society of Colonial Dames of
America on April 25, 1893 adopted a resolution requesting the
mayor of Philadelphia and all others in authority and all private
citizens to display the Flag on June 14th. Leach went on to
recommend that thereafter the day be known as Flag Day, and on
that day, school children be assembled for appropriate exercises,
with each child being given a small Flag. Two weeks later on May
8th, the Board of Managers of the Pennsylvania Society of Sons of
the Revolution unanimously endorsed the action of the
Pennsylvania Society of Colonial Dames. As a result of the
resolution, Dr. Edward Brooks, then Superintendent of Public
Schools of Philadelphia, directed that Flag Day exercises be held
on June 14, 1893 in Independence Square. School children were
assembled, each carrying a small Flag, and patriotic songs were
sung and addresses delivered.
In 1894, the governor of New York directed that on June 14
the Flag be displayed on all public buildings. With BJ Cigrand
and Leroy Van Horn as the moving spirits, the Illinois
organization, known as the American Flag Day Association, was
organized for the purpose of promoting the holding of Flag Day
exercises.
On June 14th, 1894, under the auspices of this association,
the first general public school children's celebration of Flag
Day in Chicago was held in Douglas, Garfield, Humboldtd Lincoln,
and Washington Parks, with more than 300,000 children
participating. Adults, too, participated in patriotic programs.
Franklin K. Lane, Secretary of the Interior, delivered a 1914
Flag Day address. He said the flag had spoken to him that
morning: "I am what you make me; nothing more. I swing before
your eyes as a bright gleam of color, a symbol of yourself."
Inspired by these three decades of state and local
celebrations, Flag Day - the anniversary of the Flag Resolution
of 1777 - was officially established by the Proclamation of
President Woodrow Wilson on May 30th, 1916. While Flag Day was
celebrated in various communities for years after Wilson's
proclamation, it was not until August 3rd, 1949, that President
Truman signed an Act of Congress designating June 14th of each
year as National Flag Day.
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