Today, most West Virginians are very familiar
with the State flag as seen above. However, as
late as 1908, only a handful of people had seen the
emblem of our state. At that time there were only
two state flags in existence, one was in the office of
the state superintendent of schools, and the other
was in the office of the state historian and librarian.
CHARLESTON, April 2 AP
West Virginia has a new State Flag. The emblem
was authorized by the 1929 Legislature and is
much the same as the previous flag but of a design
more practical for production. Secretary of State
George W. Sharp, who led the movement for redesigning
of the flag, has made arrangements for making
the flag in quantity and has announced information
regarding it as available at the Secretary of
State's office.
The field of the new flag is of pure white.
In the center is emblazoned the court-of-arms of
the state upon which appears the date of the admission
of the state into the union and the state motto,
"Montani Semper Liberi" (Mountaineers Always
Free). Above the court-of-arms is a white ribbon
emblazoned "State of West Virginia." Arranged
around the lower part of the court-of-arms is a
wreath of rhododendron in its proper colors. The
field of white is bordered by a strip of blue on four
sides. Both sides of the flag are the same.
The old state flag, adopted in 1907, was
found to be impracticable, The sides were different
and necessitated the two pieces being sewed
together making the flag unwieldy. On one side of
the old flag was the state seal and the court-ofarms.
The other side contained only the sprig of
rhododendron.
The West Virginia Division of Highways recently
began a project involving the survey and
identification of West Virginia's historic bridges.
Working with KCI Technologies and the WV
Division of Culture and History, it is hoped that
the new survey will aid the highway department to
comply with preservation regulations and document
our state's rich variety of bridges.
To solicit public input, a series of public meetings
throughout the state have been scheduled.
H & P Page 6
STATE OF WEST VIRGINIA
Wood County Historical and Preservation Society
OF WEST VIRGINIA
West Virginia did not have a state flag until
- As designed in 1907, the flag had the state
seal on one side and a sprig of rhododendron on the
other. It was first unfurled to the breezes, not in
West Virginia, but over the soil of our mother state,
at Jamestown, Virginia; the occasion was West Virginia
Day.
No, A Flag Did Not Come With Statehood.
REDESIGN!
The following news article, plucked from the
pages of the April 3, 1929 edition of The Parkersburg
News, gives much of the history of our current
state flag.
NEW STATE FLAG
FOR WEST VIRGINIA
HISTORIC BRIDGE SURVEY
Mrs. Elizabeth Burr Hamilton, said to be the last
member of the seventh generation of the Burr family,
who died recently at Bridgeport, Conn., at the
age of 90, was the fifth cousin of Aaron Burr, the
third vice-president of the United States, who
killed Alexander Hamilton, the lawyer and statesman,
in a duel in 1804. Her death recalls the fact
that, though the families of Burr and Hamilton
were the most bitter enemies at the beginning of
the last century, love found a way thirty-two years
after the famous duel to bring the families together
again by the marriage of Elizabeth Burr and Alexander
Hamilton in 1836.- Parkersburg Sentinel.
Taken from The Pioneer Daughter, Feb. I, 1902
UNITED - TWO OLD FAMILIES.
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