Kansas State Flag

The flag of the state of Kansas was adopted on March 21, 1927 the state legislature enacted a proposal specifying the first official Kansas state flag. The elements of the state flag include the state seal and a sunflower. This original design was modified in 1961 to add the name of the state at the bottom of the flag.

The official flag of Kansas is represented by a dark-blue silk rectangle arranged horizontally with the state seal aligned in the center. Above the seal is a sunflower which sits above a bar of gold and light blue. Below the seal is printed the name of the state "KANSAS".

The Kansas State Flag

Flag of Kansas 1925-1927

The flag of Kansas was designed in 1925. Officially adopted by the Kansas State Legislature in 1927 and modified in 1961 (the word "Kansas" was added below the seal in gold block lettering). The flag was first displayed in 1927 at Fort Riley by Governor Ben Paulen in the presence of troops from Fort Riley and the Kansas National Guard.

From 1925 to 1927, Kansas used a state banner instead of a flag. The Kansas state banner, which consisted of a large sunflower and the word "Kansas" on a blue field, was intended to be hung from a horizontal bar, rather than a vertical flag pole. It was given a unique design to avoid "competition" with the United States flag.

Flag of Kansas 1961

However, after the banner was rejected for display in Washington, D.C., and generated complaints for its awkward method of hanging, the state legislature adopted a state flag that saw the addition of the word "Kansas" at the bottom in 1961 but has otherwise retained its original design

Symbols

The state seal centered on the flag tells the history of Kansas and his figures representing pioneer life. The seal contains:

The thirty-four stars clustered at the top of the seal identify Kansas as the 34th state to be accepted into the Union of the United States. Kansas state law provides that the flag is to be used on all occasions when the state is officially represented

Kansas Flag Law

Chapter 73. - SOLDIERS, SAILORS AND PATRIOTIC EMBLEMS.
Article 7. - FLAG AND PATRIOTIC EMBLEMS.
73-701. State flag.
A state flag be and the same is hereby adopted to be used on every and all occasions, when the state is officially represented, with the privilege of the use by all citizens on all fitting and appropriate occasions which shall be authorized by state authorities.
History: L. 1927, ch. 281, § 1; March 23.

73-702. Same; description; form and makeup.
The official state flag of the state of Kansas shall be a rectangle of dark-blue silk or bunting, three (3) feet on the staff by five (5) feet fly.

The great seal of the state of Kansas, without its surrounding band of lettering, shall be located equidistant from the staff and the fly side of the flag, with the lower edge of the seal located eleven (11) inches above the base side of the flag. The great seal shall be surmounted by a crest and the word KANSAS shall be located underneath the seal. The seal shall be seventeen (17) inches in diameter. The crest shall be on a wreath or an azure, a sunflower slipped proper, which divested of its heraldic language is a sunflower as torn from its stalk in its natural colors on a bar of twisted gold and blue. The crest shall be six (6) inches in diameter; the wreath shall be nine (9) inches in length. The top of the crest shall be located two (2) inches beneath the top side of the flag. The letters KANSAS shall be imprinted in gold block letters below the seal, the said letters to be properly proportioned, and five (5) inches in height, imprinted with a stroke one (1) inch wide; and the first letter K shall commence with the same distance from the staff side of the flag as the end of the last letter S is from the fly side of the flag. The bottom edge of the letters shall be two (2) inches above the base side of the flag. Larger or smaller flags will be of the same proportional dimensions.

The colors in the seal shall be as follows: Stars, silver; hills, purple; sun, deep yellow; glory, light yellow; sky, yellow and orange from hills half way to motto, upper half, azure; grass, green; river, light blue; boat, white; house, dark brown; ground, brown; wagons, white; near horse, white; off horse, bay; buffalo, dark, almost black; motto, white; scroll, light brown.
History: L. 1927, ch. 281, § 2; L. 1961, ch. 376, § 1; L. 1963, ch. 394, § 1; June 30.

73-703. State banner.
A state banner be and the same is hereby adopted to be used on every and all occasions, when the state is officially and publicly represented, with the privilege of the use by all citizens on all fitting and appropriate occasions authorized by the state authorities.
History: L. 1925, ch. 290, § 1; Feb. 27.

73-704. Same; description; form and makeup.
The official banner of the state of Kansas, provided for in K.S.A. 73-703, shall be of solid blue and shall be of the same tint as the color of the field of the United States flag, whose width shall be three-fourths of its length, with a sunflower in the center having a diameter of two-thirds of the space of the banner, enclosing and surrounding with its petals of gold, a brown center having a diameter of two-fifths the size of the sunflower. Service banners may be made of bunting or other material of such size as required on conforming to the proportionate specifications.
History: L. 1925, ch. 290, § 2; L. 1953, ch. 360, § 1; June 30.

73-705. Flag Day proclamation by governor.
The governor of this state shall on or before June 1 of each year issue a proclamation recommending that June 14, flag day, be observed by the people of this state by the display of the flag of the United States of America and in such other ways as will be in harmony with the general character of the day.
History: L. 1939, ch. 309, § 1; June 30.

73-706. Display of United States flag by public institution.
Every person or board having under its jurisdiction the main administration building of any public institution in this state shall have the flag of the United States of America displayed on said main administration building each day except that the flag need not be so displayed when the weather is inclement.
History: L. 1939, ch. 309, § 2; June 30.

73-707. Flag and flagpole for every schoolhouse; flag use, etiquette and display.
The board of education of every school district and the proprietor of a private or parochial school, in this state shall provide a suitable flag of the United States of America with staff or flagpole for every schoolhouse under the control and supervision of such board or proprietor. The flag shall be displayed in conformance with the instructions relating to flag etiquette, use and display adopted by the state board of education under K.S.A. 72-5308, and amendments thereto.
History: L. 1939, ch. 309, § 3; L. 2001, ch. 79, § 2; July 1.

73-708. Flag to be displayed on election day.
Every person in this state charged with the duty of providing supplies at any election polling place, shall provide a suitable flag of the United States of America, and shall cause the same to be displayed in each polling place on the day of each and every election.
History: L. 1939, ch. 309, § 4; June 30.

73-709.
History: L. 1939, ch. 309, § 5; Repealed, L. 1970, ch. 307, § 3; July 1.

73-710. Penalty for violating 73-705 to 73-710.
Any person failing to comply with or violating any of the provisions of this act shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be fined not less than five dollars nor more than one hundred dollars.
History: L. 1939, ch. 309, § 6; June 30.

73-711. Display of Kansas state flag; definitions. As used in this act:
(a) The words "school district" mean and include any common-school district, rural high-school district, community high-school district, and any first- or second-class city school district; and
(b) the words "governing body" mean and include the district board of any common-school district, the district board of any rural high-school district, the board of trustees of any community high-school district, and the board of education of any city of the first or second class.
History: L. 1961, ch. 353, § 1; April 10.

73-712. Same; display on school grounds each day of school year; exception.
It shall be the duty of the governing body of every school district in the state and of the supervisory authority of every private and parochial school to provide an official state flag for the school district or for the school under its jurisdiction and control, and to have said state flag displayed on the school grounds each day during the school year: Provided, That when the weather is inclement, the flag may be displayed within the school building.
History: L. 1961, ch. 353, § 2; April 10.

Kansas State