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History Of Flag Day
Fourth of July is traditionally celebrated as Americas birthday. The
annual day specifically celebrating the Flag is believed to have first
originated in 1885. B.J. 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 'Flag Birthday', or 'Flag Day'.
On June 14, 1889, George Balch, a kindergarten teacher in New York
City, planned ceremonies for the children of their school, and the 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 small Flags.
A few 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. That resulted in 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 mall Flags, 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, Humboldt, Lincoln, and
Washington Parks, with more than 300,000 children participating.
Adults, too, participated in patriotic programs. Franklin K. Lane,
Secretary if the Interior, delivered a 1914 Flag Day address in which he
repeated words 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. 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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