Minnesota State Flag

Adopted in 1893; 1957.

The Minnesota state flag is royal blue, with a gold fringe. In the center of the flag is the state seal. Around the state seal is a wreath of the state flower, the lady slipper. Three dates are woven into the wreath: 1858, the year Minnesota became a state; 1819, the year Fort Snelling was established; and 1893, the year the official flag was adopted. Nineteen stars ring the wreath. The largest star represents Minnesota.

MINNESOTA STATE FLAG: adopted 1893.
Statutory citation: Minn. Stat. 1.141
History:

1893 Minn. Laws Chap. 16 (SF545) -- Appoints the commission to adopt a design; gives general guidelines for the design.
1955 Minn. Laws Chap. 632 (HF1601) -- Creates interim committee to study and consider change.
1957 Minn. Laws Chap. 155 Sec. 1-4 (SF887) -- New revised design specified.
1959 Minn. Laws Chap. 371 Sec. 1 (SF605) -- Relates to flying the flag.
In 1989 William Becker and Lee Herold of Rochester proposed a new flag design, but no bill was introduced.
Sources of additional information:
Joseph A.A. Burnquist, ed. Minnesota and Its People. Chicago: S.J. Clarke Publishing, 1924. Vol. 1, p. 327-328.
Report of the Interim Committee on Change of the State Flag, 1955. Interim committee authorized by 1955 Minn. Laws Chap. 632 (HF1601).
William M. Becker, "The Origin of the Minnesota State Flag," Minnesota History 53:1 (Spring 1992): 2-8.

Official Description

1.141 Official state flag.

Subdivision 1. Adoption. The design of the state flag proposed by the legislative interim commission acting under Laws 1955, Chapter 632, is adopted as the official state flag.

Subd. 2. Photograph. The secretary of state shall file a photograph of the state flag. The secretary shall also retain custodial control over the sample design flag of the commission for use by the public for copies.

Subd. 3. Description. The design of the flag shall conform substantially to the following description: The staff is surmounted by a bronze eagle with outspread wings; the flag is rectangular in shape and is on a medium blue background with a narrow gold border and a golden fringe. A circular emblem is contained in the center of the blue field. The circular emblem is on a general white background with a yellow border. The word MINNESOTA is inscribed in red lettering on the lower part of the white field. The white emblem background surrounding a center design contains 19 five pointed stars arranged symmetrically in four groups of four stars each and one group of three stars. The latter group is in the upper part of the center circular white emblem. The group of stars at the top in the white emblem consists of three stars of which the uppermost star is the largest and represents the north star. A center design is contained on the white emblem and is made up of the scenes from the great seal of the state of Minnesota, surrounded by a border of intertwining Cypripedium reginae, the state flower, on a blue field of the same color as the general flag background. The flower border design contains the figures 1819, 1858, 1893.

The coloring is the same on both sides of the flag, but the lettering and the figures appear reversed on one side.

Subd. 4. Official flag. The flag described above is the official flag of the state of Minnesota.

Subd. 5. Hours of flying. The official state flag shall be flown on the state capitol grounds at all times between sunrise and sunset.

HIST: 1957 c 155 s 1-4; 1959 c 371 s 1; 1984 c 628 art 1 s 1; 1986 c 444

Copyright 2002 by the Office of Revisor of Statutes, State of Minnesota.

State Flags

The flags of the US states exhibit a wide variety of regional influences and local histories, as well as widely different styles and design principles. Modern state flags date from the 1890s when states wanted to have distinctive symbols at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago.

flag (flag)
noun

1. a piece of cloth or bunting, often attached to a staff, with distinctive colors, patterns, or symbolic devices, used as a national or state symbol, as a signal, etc.; banner; standard; ensign

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