The flag of the state of Oregon is a two-sided flag in

navy blue Navy blue is a very dark shade of the color blue. Navy blue got its name from the dark blue (contrasted with naval white) worn by officers in the Royal Navy since 1748 and subsequently adopted by other navies around the world. When this color ...

and

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

with an optional gold fringe. On the front is the escutcheon from the state seal and on the reverse is a gold figure of a

beaver Beavers are large, semiaquatic rodents in the genus ''Castor'' native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. There are two extant species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers ar ...

, the state animal.

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

is the only

U.S. State In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

to feature different designs on either side of its flag (the

flag of Massachusetts The flag of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is the flag of Massachusetts. It has been represented by official but limited-purpose flags since 1676, though until 1908 it had no state flag ''per se'' to represent its government. A variant of the ...

was changed in 1971 to be single-sided).

History

The current flag of Oregon became official on February 26, 1925. What is believed to be the first flag of Oregon produced was made that year by

Meier & Frank Meier & Frank was a prominent chain of department stores founded in Portland, Oregon, and later bought by The May Department Stores Company. Meier & Frank operated in the Pacific Northwest from 1857 to 2006. History Summary Meier & Frank was f ...

, sewn by Marjorie Kennedy and Blanche Cox, employees of the department store. That flag was donated to

Eastern Oregon University Eastern Oregon University (EOU) (officially designated as Oregon’s Rural University) is a public university in La Grande, Oregon. It was formerly part of the Oregon University System, since dissolved. EOU was founded in 1929 as a teacher’ ...

in 1954 by the grandson of former governor

Walter M. Pierce Walter Marcus Pierce (May 30, 1861 – March 27, 1954) was an American politician, a Democrat, who served as the 17th Governor of Oregon and a member of the United States House of Representatives from . A native of Illinois, he served in the ...

. In 2010, the flag was restored.

Proposed change

For the Oregon Sesquicentennial in 2009, ''

The Oregonian ''The Oregonian'' is a daily newspaper based in Portland, Oregon, United States, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the U.S. west coast, founded as a weekly by Thomas J. Dryer on December 4, 185 ...

'' created a statewide contest to redesign the state flag. The newspaper collected and published the entries with the public voting on the winning design. The winning design was created by Randall Gray, a map maker for

Clackamas County Clackamas County is one of the 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 census, the population was 421,401, making it Oregon's third-most populous county. Its county seat is Oregon City. The county was named after the Native ...

. In his design, Gray emphasized the beaver found on the current flag's reverse. The star represents Oregon's place in the Union while the green represents the natural wilderness and forests of Oregon. After the contest had started with votes being cast, there were requests for the ''Oregonian'' to add an 11th option, "NONE OF THE ABOVE", meaning, keep the current state flag as it is. In the final tally of votes, "NONE" received the most votes. In 2013, a bill was introduced to the Oregon Senate that would have made several changes to the flag design; however, the bill never made it out of committee. This bill was sponsored by state Senator Laurie Monnes Anderson, on behalf of Gresham resident Matt Norquist, who lobbied for the flag's change. The bill describes the proposed design as follows:

Description

The flag field is navy blue with all lettering and symbols in gold, representing the state colors of Oregon. On the obverse, the legend ''STATE OF OREGON'' is written above an escutcheon, which also appears in the

Oregon state seal The Seal of the State of Oregon is the official seal of the U.S. state of Oregon. It was designed by Harvey Gordon in 1857, two years before Oregon was admitted to the Union. The seal was preceded by the Salmon Seal of the Provisional Government ...

. The shield is surrounded by 33 stars, representing Oregon's admission to the Union as the 33rd state. Below the shield is written ''1859'', the year in which Oregon became a state. Oregon's flag is the last remaining state flag in the U.S. in which the obverse and reverse sides have different designs.

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

Oregon, flag of
Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved on May 6, 2008. is the only country that still has a two-sided flag. Two-sided flags were previously more common, but have been reduced due to increased costs of manufacturing a flag with two different designs. On the reverse of the flag is a depiction, also in gold, of a

, the

state animal This is a list of animals that represent first-level administrative country subdivisions. List by country Australia Brazil * See also List of Brazilian state birds Canada People's Republic of China India Indonesia Italy Japan ...

of Oregon. For dress or parade use, the flag may feature a gold fringe. For standard use, no fringe is required. The ratio of the flag's width to its length is 3:5. It is one of eight U.S. state flags to feature an eagle, alongside those of

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

, New York,

North Dakota North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the Native Americans in the United States, indigenous Dakota people, Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north a ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

and

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

References

External links

Chapter 186 — State Emblems; State Boundary
2005

Oregon Revised Statutes The Oregon Revised Statutes (ORS) is the codified body of statutory law governing the U.S. state of Oregon, as enacted by the Oregon Legislative Assembly, and occasionally by citizen initiative. The statutes are subordinate to the Oregon Constit ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Flag Of Oregon

Symbols of Oregon Flags of Oregon