Flag Day celebrates June 14, 1777, when the Continental Congress decided what the nation’s flag would look like. They resolved, “That the flag of the thirteen United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation.”
In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson declared June 14 as Flag Day, and in 1949, President Harry S. Truman signed a law making it an official observance. It also falls during Flag Week, which was established by another congressional law in 1966.
The American flag is also prominently displayed on Independence Day, but according to David Janik, a Waubeka native and second-generation president of the National Flag Day Foundation, the flag is important enough to have its own day.
The first mention of Flag Day involves a man named George Morris, who organized a celebration on June 14, 1861, in Hartford, Connecticut. The event included a patriotic program and prayers for the Union Army’s success in the early days of the Civil War. However, it seems the festivities were never repeated.
Waubeka, Wisconsin, claims to be the location of the first Flag Day, but Pennsylvanians might disagree.
According to legend, Bernard J. Cigrand, a Wisconsin teacher, was the “Father of Flag Day.” Cigrand assigned his students an essay about what the flag means to them.
Pittsburgh native William T. Kerr started promoting Flag Day in 1888 and became the national chairman of the American Flag Day Foundation the following year, a position he held for 50 years. Kerr was standing next to Truman when he signed the Flag Day law.
Unlike Thanksgiving, Memorial Day, and a few other federal holidays, Flag Day doesn’t usually mean Americans get the day off work.
Instead, it’s officially recognized nationwide, but government services remain open and mail is still delivered. Only Pennsylvania recognizes it as a state holiday, allowing residents to stay home from work and school.
However, even across the other 49 states, citizens are showing their love for the flag, with Waubeka even holding an essay contest for schoolchildren.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.