Day Flag

A Brief History of Flag Day

We celebrate Flag Day on June 14 because that was the day in 1777 that the adoption of the American flag by the Second Continental Congress took place.

President Woodrow Wilson made a proclamation in 1916 which established June 14 as Flag Day, then was subsequently established by the Congress in 1949.

Flag Day is not a federal nor a state holiday with the exception of one state, that being Pennsylvania which began celebrating Flag Day as a state holiday on June 14, 1937.

The Flag Day parade in Troy, New York is the largest in the country with an average attendance of 50,000 people.

George Morris of Hartford, Connecticut is believed to have been the first to suggest the observance of a “Flag Day” and though the tradition did not continue, Flag Day was observed for the first time in Hartford in 1861.

In 1885 Cigrand J. Bernard, a school teacher in Waubeka, Wisconsin, was the first to formally observe Flag Day in Waubeka at Stony Hill School. From that time on, Cigrand promoted patriotism, and respect for the flag, and the need to observe Flag Day all around the country.

In June 1886 while attending dental school in Chicago, the Chicago Argus newspaper published his first public proposal for the yearly observance of the birth of the United States Flag in an article titled “The Fourteenth of June”. Then in 1888, became the editor-in-chief of American Standard, a magazine founded by a Chicago group known as “Sons of America”, promoting reverence for American emblems by writing articles. His articles were not only published in American Standard, but in several other magazines and newspapers as well. And in 1894, over 300,000 school children in Chicago celebrated Flag Day.

Cigrand went on to become the president of the American Flag Day Association and also the National Flag Day Society, with the support of these organizations, Cigrand was able to deliver more than 2,000 speeches about patriotism and the American flag. He later lived in Batavia, Illinois from 1913 until his death on May 16, 1932. He is known by many as the “Father of Flag Day”.

William Kerr of Collier Township, Pennsylvania, who founded the American Flag Day Association of Western Pennsylvania in 1888 and serving as its own national chairman for fifty years, attended the signing of the Act of Congress in 1949 by Harry Truman, which formally established the observance of Flag Day.

George Boch, a kindergarten principal in New York City, celebrated Flag Day in his school in 1889.

Elizabeth Duane Gillespie, the president of the Colonial Dames of Pennsylvania, in 1893 attempted a resolution for the establishment of a June 14th Flag Day.

These are but a few notable patriots who fought for the national observance of Flag Day.

The president issues a proclamation urging citizens to fly the American flag. Some cities host parades and events in celebration of Flag Day. The National Flag Day Foundation, on the second Sunday of June, holds a flag raising ceremony, a parade, and other events as well.

About the Author

James Bolton is founder and creator of lovefortheflag.com, a website dedicated to the flag of the United States of America and to promoting patriotism and loyalty to country.

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