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On
December 10, 1836, President Sam Houston
approved the first national flag of the Republic
of Texas. This flag, known as the "National
Standard of Texas" displayed a large golden five
pointed star centered on an azure ground. This
flag flew over the Republic of Texas until
January 25, 1839.
A bill
describing the "Lone Star Flag", a flag that
would become the second official flag of the
Republic of Texas, was introduced on December
28, 1838 by Senator William H. Wharton. The bill
was, of course, referred to committee and this
committee proposed a substitute bill including
the same flag design proposed by Senator
Wharton. This bill was passed by the Texas
Congress on January 21, 1839 and approved by
Texas President Mirabeau B. Lamar on January 25,
1839. This was almost six years before Texas
became a member of the United States of America.
Early
designs of the flag are attributed to many
including Joanna Troutman, Sara Dodson, Charles
Bellinger Stewart, Peter Krag and William
Wharton, but it was long held that the actual
designer of the Lone Star Flag was not known.
The Texas House "may" have put an end to the
mystery in 1997. House Resolution 1123,
Commemorating Montgomery County as the
birthplace of the Lone Star Flag, declares,
in part, that:
...WHEREAS, At the request of President
Mirabeau B. Lamar, Dr. Charles B. Stewart of
Montgomery County created this inspirational
banner, and the elegant simplicity of his
design truly exemplified the united will of
the citizens of the new Republic of Texas;
and...
House Resolution 1123
Official artwork
created for the Lone Star Flag approved by
President Lamar was drawn by Peter Krag.
[T]he national flag of Texas shall consist
of a blue perpendicular stripe of the width
of one third of the whole length of the
flag, with a white star of five points in
the centre thereof, and two horizontal
stripes of equal breadth, the upper stripe
white, the lower red, of the length of two
thirds of the whole length of the flag.
When
Texas was admitted to the Union in 1845, the
Lone Star Flag came along. And so it was until
1879 when the Sixteenth Legislature approved the
"Revised Civil Statues of 1879." These revised
statutes provided that "all civil statutes of a
general nature, in force when the Revised
Statutes take effect, and which are not included
herein, or which are not hereby expressly
continued in force, are hearby repealed." Since
the revised statutes included no legislation
concerning the flag and did not "expressly"
continue in force the 1839 law, the 1839 flag
law was repealed.
From
the date of the repeal, September 1, 1879 until
the 1933 Flag Act, Texas was without an official
state flag.
The
legislation adopted in 1933, was quite
particular about the design and location of the
lone star and the colors of the flag: blood red,
azure blue and white. The colors were said to
impart the "lessons of the Flag: bravery,
loyalty and purity." However, no standard for
"blood red" or "azure blue" existed and flags
manufactured within the state varied in color
and dimension.
In
1993, the statutes concerning the flag were
revisited and the official description of the
state flag was revised.
The state flag
consists of a rectangle with a width to
length ratio of two to three containing: (1)
a blue vertical stripe one-third the entire
length of the flag wide, and two equal
horizontal stripes, the upper stripe white,
the lower red, each two-thirds the entire
length of the flag long; and (2) a white,
regular five-pointed star in the center of
the blue stripe, oriented so that one point
faces upward, and of such a size that the
diameter of a circle passing through the
five points of the star is equal to
three-fourths the width of the blue stripe.
The colors of the flag were also stipulated as
being "Old Glory Red" and "Old Glory Blue", the
same colors found in the flag of the United
States. These colors are defined in the Standard
Color Reference of America.
If you
want more information on the State Flags of the
United States, you might want to check
How Proudly They Wave: Flags of the Fifty
States by Rita D. Haban. This book is
geared toward kids... and for adults like me who
want to know about the history and design
significance of the flags of all fifty states
but can't find this information in an expensive
encyclopedia. |
Official State Flag of Texas
