Flag of Colorado

The flag nobody flew

Colorado’s first official flag, adopted in 1907, showed the state seal on a blue field. It was the kind of flag many states had, and in Colorado it went largely unused. In November 1910 the Daughters of the American Revolution began a campaign for something better. Their first proposal, red and white stripes with the seal, met resistance in the legislature, and a new design by Andrew Carlisle Carson took its place.

Carson wanted two horizontal stripes of blue with a white stripe of equal width between them, and a large red C with a gold center near the pole. Senate Bill 118 adopted his design. The Senate passed it on April 25, 1911, and the House on May 6, and the new flag made its public debut at a Grand Army of the Republic parade on May 30, 1911.

What each part means

The 1911 law explained its symbolism in unusual detail, listing ten meanings for the flag’s parts. In summary:

• Blue. Colorado’s clear skies. Blue and white together are also the colors of the columbine, the state flower.
• White. The snow on the Rocky Mountains, and silver, once one of Colorado’s great sources of wealth.
• The red C. Colorado, from the Spanish for “colored red.” It also stands for the Centennial State, since Colorado became a state in 1876, and for the columbine.
• The gold disk. Colorado’s sunshine, and its gold.
• The cord. The flag comes with a cord of intertwined gold and silver, with one tassel of each, said to symbolize the union and harmony of Colorado’s people.

Fixing the details

The 1911 law did not fix every detail. In 1929 the legislature required the red and blue to be the same shades as in the US flag. In 1964 it fixed the size and placement of the C: it must be two-thirds the width of the flag and sit one-fifth of the flag’s length from the staff. That produced the flag Colorado flies today, described in section 24-80-904 of the Colorado Revised Statutes.

The law also applies the federal rules against misusing the US flag to the state flag, and says that every citizen may fly it.

The designer’s name

Many websites name the designer as “Andrew Carlisle Johnson.” The Denver Public Library, which has researched the flag’s history, says that is a mistake that has spread online, and that the designer was Andrew Carlisle Carson.