On June 14, 1891, the Betsy Ross House in Philadelphia held a Flag Day celebration, and on June 14 of the following year, the New York Society of the Sons of the Revolution, celebrated Flag Day.
In 1885 a school teacher, B.J. Cigrand, is said to have arranged for his students in a Wisconsin Public School to observe June 14th as the flag's birthday. The event received media attention, and Cigrand continued to advocate the Flag's birthday throughout the years. Another teacher, on June 14, 1889, did the same in New York, and his idea of observing "Flag Day" was later adopted by the State Board of Education of New York.
In Pennsylvania, under the suggestion of Colonel J Granville Leach (a historian of the Pennsylvania Society of the Sons of the Revolution), the Pennsylvania Society of Colonial Dames of America adopted a resolution requesting the mayor of Philadelphia and all others in authority and all private citizens to display the Flag on June 14. Leach went on to recommend that thereafter the day be known as 'Flag Day', and on that day, school children be assembled for appropriate exercises, with each child being given a small Flag.
Two weeks later the Pennsylvania Society of Sons of the Revolution unanimously endorsed the action of the Pennsylvania Society of Colonial Dames, resulting in Dr. Edward Brooks, the Superintendent of Public Schools of Philadelphia, directing Flag Day exercises be held on June 14, 1893 in Independence Square. School children were congregated, each carrying a small Flag, and singing patriotic songs.
In 1894, the New York State Governor proclaimed that on June 14 the American Flag be displayed on all public buildings. On June 14th, 1894, the first general public school children's celebration of Flag Day in Chicago was held in a number of the public parks, with more than 300,000 children participating.
Flag Day was officially established by the Proclamation of President Woodrow Wilson on May 30th, 1916. While Flag Day was celebrated in various communities for years after Wilson's proclamation, it was not until August 3rd, 1949, that President Truman signed an Act of Congress designating June 14th of each year as National Flag Day.
God Bless America, and may her flag long wave.
-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary
By Douglas V. Gibbs
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