Ohio State Flag

Adopted on May 9, 1902.

Ohio's official flag was adopted by an Act of the Ohio Legislature on May 9, 1902. The Ohio burgee, as the swallow-tailed design is properly called, was drawn by John Eisenmann, architect and designer for the Ohio State Pan-American Exposition Commission.

The Ohio flag has three red and two white horizontal stripes. At its staff end, in a blue triangular field whose apex is at the center of the middle red stripe, are 17 white, five-pointed stars grouped around a red disc superimposed upon a white circular O.

Mr. Eisenmann explained its symbolism most aptly: "The triangles formed by the main lines of the flag represent the hills and valleys as typified in the State Seal, and the stripes the roads and waterways. The stars, indicating the 13 original states of the Union, are grouped about the circle which represents the Northwest Territory; and that Ohio was the seventeenth state admitted into the Union is shown by adding four more stars. The white circle with its red center, not only represents the initial letter of Ohio, but is suggestive of its being the 'Buckeye State'."

When the flag of Ohio, or any state, is flown on the same halyard with the flag of the United States of America, the latter should always be at the peak. When flown from adjacent staffs, the Stars and Stripes should be hoisted first and lowered last.

When a number of state flags are grouped and displayed from staffs with our national flag, the latter should be at the center or at the highest point of the group.

When carried in a procession with the Ohio flag, or any state flag, the flag of the United States should be on the marching right. When there is a line of several state flags, the national flag should be in the front and center of that line.

The flag of the state shall be pennant shaped. It shall have three red and two white horizontal stripes. The union of the flag shall be seventeen five-pointed stars, white in a blue triangular field, the base of which shall be the staff end or vertical edge of the flag, and the apex of which shall be the center of the middle red stripe. The stars shall be grouped around a red disc superimposed upon a white circular "O." The proportional dimensions of the flag and of its various parts shall be according to the official design on file in the office of the secretary of state. One state flag of uniform dimensions shall be furnished to each company of the organized militia.