When Was the First Flag Day?

Against the backdrop of the Revolutionary War, uniting the young nation was a mammoth task. But America’s founding fathers hoped a new flag would do just that. On June 14, 1777, the Second Continental Congress meeting in Philadelphia established that “the flag of the United States be 13 stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be 13 stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation.” Today, Flag Day marks the anniversary of when delegates from the thirteen colonies approved the flag’s now-iconic design.

With this design approved, Betsy Ross purportedly got to work creating the first version of the Stars and Stripes (there’s no historical evidence to support this popular story). The flag has since become synonymous with freedom and receives an annual celebration by Americans across the country.

The year the first Flag Day was observed is disputed, as a few different groups want to claim glory. However, by all accounts, there was a rise in celebration of the symbol in the 19th century.

Some sources point to an 1861 commemoration in Hartford, Connecticut, honoring the Union’s strength at the start of the Civil War as the first Flag Day. The next year, the Connecticut General Assembly recognized June 14 as Flag Day.

A lasting tradition likely didn’t happen until more than 100 years after the flag’s design was approved. Bernard Cigrand, a teacher in a one-room schoolhouse in Wisconsin, organized a lesson plan for June 14, 1885, in honor of the flag’s “birthday.” Many consider this event the first annual observance of Flag Day. Soon, more states began to adopt the tradition, often with schools leading the way.

New York City followed suit after a kindergarten principal George Bolch started celebrating Flag Day with his school in 1889, leading the state education department to adopt the holiday in all public schools. Four years later, the Pennsylvania Society of Colonial Dames of America successfully requested American flags adorn Philadelphia’s city buildings on Flag Day. When the day arrived, public school children there participated in the Flag Day exercises.

And on June 14, 1894, the American Flag Day Association held a celebration in Chicago with between 100,000 and more than 300,000 students. It would be another 55 years before the holiday became officially recognized by Congress.

Bernard Cigrand is sometimes referred to as the “Father of Flag Day” for relentlessly lobbying for a nationwide celebration in honor of the American Flag. After organizing the Wisconsin schoolhouse observance, he co-founded the American Flag Day Association, spoke at various Flag Day events and used his position as editor-in-chief of American Standard magazine to promote festivities. Stony Hill School in Waubeka, Wisconsin, where Cigrand taught, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. But he wasn’t the only one to push for an official observance.

Another schoolteacher, Sarah Hinson of Buffalo, New York, started teaching “Flag Day exercises” in 1891, choosing June 14 as it was the day the Continental Congress adopted the flag’s design. She encouraged her students to salute the flag and recite the pledge of allegiance.

Another potential “Father of Flag Day,” William T. Kerr established the American Flag Day Association of Western Pennsylvania in 1888 when he was still a student and led the national organization for some five decades. He lobbied presidents at the White House starting with William McKinley to make the holiday official and was present when President Harry Truman signed the Flag Day holiday law.

Flag Day became a national holiday in May 1916, when President Woodrow Wilson declared a celebration on June 14. However, it wasn’t a permanent holiday until Congress established national Flag Day in 1949, with President Harry Truman signing the observance into law that August. Flag Day is not a federal holiday, meaning the U.S. government operates and business continues as normal on June 14.

Some states also celebrate Flag Day in an official capacity. Pennsylvania, where Betsy Ross resided, decreed the celebration a legal holiday in 1937, though that’s no longer the case. In Florida, it remains a legal holiday. New York and New Jersey are other states that have designated a Flag Day observance or commemoration. The flag-waving holiday is often marked by parades, community events and a Wisconsin-based essay contest just like Bernard Cigrand asked his students to write.