Arkansas State Flag

Although the state of Arkansas achieved statehood in 1836, as of 1913 Arkansas still did not have a state flag. This came to light when three Daughters of the American Revolution, Mrs. C.W. Pettigrew, Mrs. W.A. Taggart and Mrs. Frank Tomlinson, thought it would be appropriate to send a copy of the Arkansas state flag to the U.S.S Arkansas on the occasion of its commission, only to find out… there wasn’t one.

Well, that just wouldn’t do, so the women of the Pine Bluff Chapter of the D.A.R. decided to hold a contest to design one. The contest was statewide and received 65 entries in varying degrees of artistic skill. There were a number of designs that used the state flower, others that used the state seal, and the outline of the state of Arkansas. The winner didn’t use any of the established symbols.

 

 

The winner of the competition was Miss Willie Hocker of Wabbaseka,
a member of the Pine Bluff chapter of the D.A.R., who designed a very graphic Arkansas state flag. It used only three colors: red, white, and blue. She picked a red rectangular background with a white diamond bordered by a blue border with 25 white stars, and three blue stars centered in the diamond.

Symbolic Meaning on the Original Arkansas Flag

• The three blue stars had three meanings:
  1. the three countries to which Arkansas has belonged: France, Spain, and finally the United States
  2. the three in 1803, the year Arkansas was acquired in the Louisiana Purchase
  3. Arkansas was the third state that was created from the Louisiana Purchase; following Louisiana and Missouri
• The 25 stars represented the fact that Arkansas is the 25th state.
• The white diamond represents that Arkansas is a diamond producing state.
• The two stars at the east and west ends of the diamond represent the fact that both Arkansas and Michigan were admitted into the Union in the course of only a few months: Arkansas on Jun 15, 1836 and Michigan on January 26, 1837.

The original flag was modified by the legislature to include the state name, moving one star above the name and the other two below it.

Although the Arkansas state Legislature approved the flag on February 26, 1913, they started catching flack about the design. She didn’t include any symbolism related to the Confederate States of America of which Arkansas was a member from 1861 to 1865. In 1923, the flag was modified to represent that part of its history. A fourth blue star was added over the R and the other top star was moved over the last A. No one liked that change, since it obliterated the reasons behind the original three stars.

The following year, 1924, the legislature acted again moving a single star above the name and 3 stars beneath it. The flag still looks like this today.

Source: Based on information from the Arkansas Secretary of State