The Oregon State Flag Redesign Effort

In anticipation of Oregon’s 150th birthday in February 2009, the state’s largest newspaper,The Oregonian, sponsored an effort to redesign the state’s flag. Oregon became a state in 1859, but only in 1925 did it adopt a state flag—the last among the then-48 states to do so—based on a flag used by the Oregon Military Department. The state’s legislature authorized an official flag after the Portland postmaster asked for a flag to present for display with thoseof other states in the nation’s capital, and a flag was requested to fly at the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Lexington.3 Governor Walter M. Pierce signed the legislation adopting the flag. He had been elected with the strong support of the resurgent Ku Klux Klan, which powerfully influenced state politics at the time.That flag, which has remained unchanged since 1925, is now unique among U.S. state
flags—it has a different design on the reverse, a beaver (the state animal). Oregon is known as “The Beaver State”, recalling the fur trade which first brought Euro-American exploration to the area. Its obverse displays the escutcheon from the state seal, the year of admission“1859”, and—in case the symbolism were not adequate—the words “STATE OF OREGON”.

FOR MORE DETAILS ON REDESIGN ITSELF, CHECK OUT THAT ARTICLE LINK FROM THE NORTH AMERICAN VEXILOGICAL(STUDY OF FLAGS) ASSOCIATION:

http://www.nava.org/Flag%20Design/Redesigning%20the%20Oregon%20State%20Flag.pdf