The Fourth of July was traditionally
celebrated as America's birthday, but the idea of an
annual day specifically celebrating the Flag is believed
to have first originated in 1885. BJ Cigrand, a
schoolteacher, arranged for the pupils in the Fredonia,
Wisconsin Public School, District 6, to observe June 14
(the 108th anniversary of the official adoption of The
Stars and Stripes) as 'Flag Birthday'. In numerous
magazines and newspaper articles and public addresses
over the following years, Cigrand continued to
enthusiastically advocate the observance of June 14 as
'Flag Birthday', or 'Flag Day'.
On June 14, 1889, George Balch, a
kindergarten teacher in New York City, planned
appropriate ceremonies for the children of his school,
and his idea of observing Flag Day was later adopted by
the State Board of Education of New York. On June 14,
1891, the Betsy Ross House in Philadelphia held a Flag
Day celebration, and on June 14 of the following year,
the New York Society of the Sons of the Revolution,
celebrated Flag Day.
Following the suggestion of
Colonel J Granville Leach (at the time historian of the
Pennsylvania Society of the Sons of the Revolution), the
Pennsylvania Society of Colonial Dames of America on
April 25, 1893 adopted a resolution requesting the mayor
of Philadelphia and all others in authority and all
private citizens to display the Flag on June 14th. Leach
went on to recommend that thereafter the day be known as
'Flag Day', and on that day, school children be assembled
for appropriate exercises, with each child being given a
small Flag.
Two weeks later on May 8th, the
Board of Managers of the Pennsylvania Society of Sons of
the Revolution unanimously endorsed the action of the
Pennsylvania Society of Colonial Dames. As a result of
the resolution, Dr. Edward Brooks, then Superintendent of
Public Schools of Philadelphia, directed that Flag Day
exercises be held on June 14, 1893 in Independence
Square. School children were assembled, each carrying a
small Flag, and patriotic songs were sung and addresses
delivered.
In 1894, the governor of New York
directed that on June 14 the Flag be displayed on all
public buildings. With BJ Cigrand and Leroy Van Horn as
the moving spirits, the Illinois organization, known as
the American Flag Day Association, was organized for the
purpose of promoting the holding of Flag Day exercises.
On June 14th, 1894, under the auspices of this
association, the first general public school children's
celebration of Flag Day in Chicago was held in Douglas,
Garfield, Humboldt, Lincoln, and Washington Parks, with
more than 300,000 children participating.
Adults, too, participated in
patriotic programs. Franklin K. Lane, Secretary if the
Interior, delivered a 1914 Flag Day address in which he
repeated words he said the flag had spoken to him that
morning: "I am what you make me; nothing more. I
swing before your eyes as a bright gleam of color, a
symbol of yourself."
Inspired by these three decades
of state and local celebrations, Flag Day - the
anniversary of the Flag Resolution of 1777 - was
officially established by the Proclamation of
President Woodrow Wilson on May 30th, 1916. While Flag
Day was celebrated in various communities for years after
Wilson's proclamation, it was not until August 3rd, 1949,
that President Truman signed an Act of Congress
designating June 14th of each year as National
Flag Day.
