Missouri Symbols
Missouri State
Flag
Adopted on March 22, 1913.
Nearly 100 years after achieving statehood, Missouri adopted an official Missouri flag on March 22, 1913. The flag of Missouri consists of red, white, and blue stripes, with the seal of Missouri in the center. Designed by Mrs. Mary Elizabeth Oliver, the red and white stripes, as is traditional, represent valor and purity, respectively. While the blue represents three things: the permanency, vigilance, and justice of the state. The three colors also highlight the French influence on the state in its early years. The flag was made the official flag of the state on March 22, 1913, when then governor Elliot Woolfolk Major signed a bill making it official
The Missouri State Flag
History of Missouri Flag
The Flag of the State of Missouri was designed and stitched in Cape Girardeau, Missouri,
by Marie Elizabeth Watkins Oliver (January 11, 1854- October 18, 1944), the wife of former
State Senator R.B. Oliver. She began her flag project in 1908 as part of her volunteer activities
with the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) when she was appointed chairperson of the
DAR committee to research and design Missouri's flag. Oliver researched state flags extensively.
She wrote each state's secretary of state for information about how their state's flags had
been designed and officially adopted. Her original design incorporated Missouri's coat of arms
and was rendered as a painted paper flag by her friend Mary Kochitzky.
The flag was brought to the Missouri State Capitol in 1908 and bills to adopt the flag as the
official flag of Missouri were introduced by Senator Arthur L. Oliver, her nephew, in 1909
and 1911. Both bills failed to pass in the House. A competing flag design, by Dr. G.H. Holcomb
and referred to as the "Holcomb flag", was opposed due to its resemblance to the
Flag of the United States and its lack of Missouri symbolism. Oliver's original paper flag
was destroyed when the Missouri State Capitol burned in 1911. With Mrs. S.D. MacFarland, Oliver
sewed a second flag out of silk. Her design was adopted on March 22, 1913 when governor Elliot
Woolfolk Major signed the Oliver Flag Bill. The flag design remains unchanged to this day.
The silk flag was kept by Marie Oliver until 1961 when her son Allen gave it to the State of
Missouri. The flag was displayed until it began to deteriorate and was put into storage. In
1988, Secretary of State Roy D. Blunt issued a challenge to elementary students to raise money
to restore the flag. The campaign was successful and the restored flag has been displayed in
the James C. Kirkpatrick State Information Center in Jefferson City ever since.
Design and Symbolism
The flag is a tricolor consisting of three horizontal stripes of red, white and blue. These represent valor, purity, vigilance, and justice. The colors also reflect the state's historic status as part of the French Louisiana (New France). In the center white stripe is the Seal of Missouri, circled by a blue band containing 24 stars, denoting that Missouri was the 24th state. (RSMo 10.020)
- The motto "United We Stand, Divided we Fall"
- The right section representing the United States
- The left section containing a moon representing a new state and a grizzly bear standing for courage.
The flag is described in Section 010.020 of Missouri's Revised Statutes.
Missouri Flag Law
Missouri Revised Statutes, Title 2, Chapter 10, Section 10.020
TITLE II: SOVEREIGNTY, JURISDICTION AND EMBLEMS.
CHAPTER 10: STATE EMBLEMS.
SECTION 10.020. Flag, official--design of--original design--where kept.
10.020. The official flag of the state of Missouri is rectangular in shape and its vertical
width is to the horizontal length as seven is to twelve. It has one red, one white and one
blue horizontal stripe of equal width; the red is at the top and the blue at the bottom. In
the center of the flag there is a band of blue in the form of a circle enclosing the coat of
arms in the colors as established by law on a white ground. The width of the blue band is one-fourteenth
of the vertical width of the flag and the diameter of the circle is one-third of the horizontal
length of the flag. In the blue band there are set at equal distances from each other twenty-four
five-pointed stars. The original copy of the design shall be kept in the office of the secretary
of state. The flag shall conform to the design set out on page xxx, RSMo.
(RSMo 1939 § 15438, RSMo 1949 § 10.080, A.L. 1957 p. 726)
Prior revisions: 1929 § 14313; 1919 § 11609
CROSS REFERENCE: Flag desecration, penalty, RSMo 578.095
The Flags of the US.
