Flag of Oregon

What the flag shows

• The field. Navy blue, with every element in gold. The law names navy blue and gold as Oregon’s official colors.
• The shield. On the front, the escutcheon from the state seal. It shows mountains, an elk, a covered wagon and the Pacific Ocean, where a British warship departs and an American ship arrives, above a sheaf of wheat, a plow and a pickax, with a banner reading “The Union” and an eagle on top.
• Thirty-three stars. Around the shield, for Oregon’s place as the 33rd state.
• The words. “State of Oregon” above the shield and “1859,” the year of statehood, below.
• The beaver. On the back, a gold beaver perched on a log.

The official proportions are 500 to 833, though flags are commonly made at 3 to 5 or 2 to 3.

A militia flag

In the 19th century Oregon’s militia, forerunner of the Oregon National Guard, carried a regimental-style flag showing the seal’s shield on a nearly square blue field. The state flag was modeled on it, with different proportions and the beaver added on the back.

A flag for a display

Oregon was one of the last states to adopt a flag. The push came from Portland’s postmaster, J. M. Jones, who wanted one for a US Post Office Department display. Governor Walter Pierce signed the flag law on February 26, 1925, and the Meier and Frank department store in Portland had two seamstresses, Blanche Cox and Marjorie Kennedy, sew the first flag in time for an April 1925 display of all the state flags marking the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Lexington. In 1953 the Legislature required the flag to fly over schools, courthouses and other public buildings.

Redesign and rediscovery

In 2008 and 2009 The Oregonian ran a contest to redesign the flag. It drew about 2,500 entries but led to no change, since neither the governor nor the Legislature wanted one. It did have one happy result: the publicity led to the rediscovery of the original 1925 flag, long assumed lost in the 1935 Capitol fire, hanging in a stairwell of Pierce Library at Eastern Oregon University in La Grande, where it is now on display.