Flags of American Cities: Episode Two

this is the united states of america and as we had learned in the previous episode it is a land of many flags a nation where every state has its own flag as well as every county and we certainly can't forget that almost every city in town has its own flag as well in the previous episode we looked at various cities across the east coast and checked out their flags today we're gonna move a little west in what i like to call the central us sure let's do that this isn't official geographic splitting in any way it's just how we're gonna do it also in the previous episode we learned about what makes a good plague and what makes a bad flag according to the north american vexillological association let's do a quick little recap on that number one keep it simple a flag should be so simple that a child can draw it from memory number two use meaningful symbolism a flag's images colors or patterns should relate to what it symbolizes number three use two or three basic colors to limit the number of colors on the flag use colors that contrast well and come from a standard color set four no lettering or seals never use any type of writing or any kind of organizational seal on a flag and number five be distinctive or be related avoid duplications of other flags but use similarities to show connections if warranted so with that in mind let's check out some more flags of american cities welcome to the deep south we're going to check out montgomery alabama's state capitol the city was once the capital of the confederate states of america during the civil war as well as being the heart of the civil rights movement in the 1950s and 60s and that's just a snippet the city's been through a lot and their flag represents that designed by a local citizen and adopted in 1952 the montgomery flag is unique in its design the most notable colors are gray and red which are split by a blue diagonal stripe the flag is hoisted at the pole on the gray side the gray represents the uniforms of the soldiers of the confederate army don't forget montgomery was the capital of the confederate states of america at least to begin with then we have the red representing the red on the alabama state flag the blue and the grey on the flag represents the different uniforms worn by the different militaries during the civil war blue was for the union gray was for the confederates the stars on the diagonal blue stripe represent the confederate states the big golden wreath shows that all those states were united in honor and glory so overall not a bad looking flag you could argue that maybe you'd get rid of the words maybe get rid of the wreath but otherwise it's an alright flag i do think the colors are unique because it's not often you see gray and red combined on a flag and there's no lacking of symbolism and next we got jackson the capital of mississippi jackson 2 has seen its fair share of hardships and in the recent years has seen population decline in 1992 the city held a competition for a new flag and in 1993 they adopted this as their flag right away you can see the big star in the middle represents jackson as the capital of mississippi the blue behind the star denotes the pearl river which runs by the city of jackson and has been known to exceed its boundaries and flood the city many times so the blue definitely fits the flag but what about the green oddly enough the green doesn't have an official meaning i would say it probably means the greenery of the state and lastly we have the white stripes which meet at the center of the star they symbolize jackson as being the crossroads of the south because a decent enough amount of roads lead there and there you go now you know what jackson's flag looks like like the previous two cities on our list wheeling west virginia has also been through rough times the city too is on decline with a stagnant economy and a declining infrastructure around it but the citizens still love their forgotten city and what makes it so heartbreaking is how much civic pride they have prior to 2018 this was the flag for the city of wheeling but in that same year they introduced this beautiful new flag let's dive into it we got two outer bars that are blue a white stripe in the middle and five yellow stars in the center the two blue horizontal bars represent the ohio river and wheeling creek but the stripes have more meaning when combined blue white and red there's three bars which represent three modes of transportation that were integral to wheeling's growth in the early days the top blue is supposed to represent the river the white is supposed to represent road and the rail is supposed to be the bottom blue the five stars in the middle also represent five important eras in wheeling's past the first star is called the indigenous star and symbolizes all the local tribes that used to live in this area the second star is the frontier star notable for the zane brothers and their settlement of the area as well as fort henry and its sieges fought against it during the american revolutionary war by the british and native americans the third star is the transportation star centering wheeling is the hub of early modes of transportation you know the river road and rail number four is the statehood star letting everybody know that wheeling was once the capital of west virginia which was the only state born out of the civil war last but not least is the fifth star the industrial star it represents how wheeling used to be an industrial powerhouse in this region but not anymore it should be noted that the stars on the flag are compass stars with eight sides representing navigation since wheeling used to be a center for transportation as well the colors on the flag are the same official colors as the state of west virginia don't forget as you just learned in this video wheeling used to be the capital and birthplace of west virginia so thank you wheeling you're not forgotten by us and all the people watching you've got a beautiful flag and we wish you the best in the future our next flag was designed in a contest in 1896 but wasn't adopted until 1940 that is the flag of cincinnati ohio in the very center we see a red letter c for cincinnati the cute little leaves on top are buckeye leaves they represent ohio because ohio is the buckeye state ohio state is known as the buckeyes they have this creepy looking mascot and now you know that that mascot is actually a buckeye seed you're welcome now let's go back to the flag the words on top jungkook javont it's the motto of the city and it has various meanings including united they assist things joined together are helpful and growth through unity sure okay so next we have this winged rod which signifies commerce there's also two serpents going up the rod and those are supposed to represent wisdom the sword on the other side represents authority and power then up top we have the scales of justice for equality the wavy blue lines symbolize the ohio river which goes right by cincinnati and then it's all topped off with a white background and that's the flag of cincinnati considering this flag is over a hundred years old that's not bad design it's quite popular with locals and even the local professional soccer team adopted the flag and just simply changed the colors this flag was also ranked the best flag in all of ohio by the north american vexillological association welcome to motor city [Music] detroit's flag has changed many times through the years but it's retained its same basic design since it was created in 1907. the flag has many flag sins but that's okay let's go through what we got here in the center of the flag is the city seal of detroit there are two latin mottos on the left it reads we hope for better things on the right it reads we will rise from the ashes that motto was written in 1805 after the great detroit fire which burned down the entire city except for one building i don't think they expected that motto to still stand true today detroit is home to more abandoned buildings than any other city in the united states detroit has seen over 1 million 180 000 people leave since 1950 the woman on the left weeps of the destruction while the one on the right gestures for a new city to rise in its place outside of the seal there are four quadrants the upper left with the stars and the lower right with the stripes represent the united states specifically the 13 original colonies the lower left represents france since they originally founded a fort where detroit is the upper right represents great britain who then took control of the fort in 1760. flag may be a little busy looking but it's definitely seeped in history in 2019 there were some rumblings of maybe having a new flag but the city council and the city of detroit doesn't seem like they're interested chicago america's third largest city may have the best known city flag in the country wait a second did wheeling west virginia get inspiration from chicago's flag you bet they did now sometimes we say that flags lack symbolism this is probably an example of a flag that has too much symbolism throwing symbolism where it isn't even needed i mean look at all this kick let's get started so unlike most flakes throughout the country chicago flags are held with much pride you can find them everywhere on merchandise tattoos businesses police cars everything but what does it all mean well let's run through that real fast the first notable thing are the red stars in the middle when chicago's flag was first adopted in 1917 the flag originally only had two stars each of those stars is a major event in chicago's history meaning they can add more stars in the future [Applause] the first star was the great chicago fire of 1871. the fire left the city with 100 000 people homeless the second star was for the world's colombian exposition held in 1893. this world's fair essentially celebrated the 400th anniversary of christopher columbus's arrival to the new world america the third star was the century of progress exhibition in 1933 to celebrate a hundred years of progress the fair also celebrated chicago's first 100 years as a city the fourth star stands for fort dearborn and it was added in 1939 the fort was constructed by the u.s army in 1803 in what is now the birthplace of chicago and here's what i mean when there's maybe too much symbolism each tip of these six-sided stars also has a meaning but i'm not going to go over each one of them because unless you want this to be a full-on college course we don't have time for that each of the white stripes on the flag represents a different area of chicago the top stripe is the north side the middle stripe is the west side and the bottom stripe is the south side that would probably mean the blue stripes have a meaning too and they do the top blue stripe is for lake michigan and the north branch of the chicago river while the bottom blue bars for the south branch of the chicago river and the great canal and that's about all you need to know for the flag of the city of chicago up next is indianapolis the capital of indiana the midwest city with a really cool looking flag let's begin the flag was adopted in 1963 and at the very center we see a white star and a red circle the star represents the soldiers and sailors monument but around it you also see a white circle this is monument circle the soldiers and sailors monument is located in the center of monument circle both of which are located in downtown indianapolis and they're just a few blocks from the indiana state capitol building because that star has a dual meaning showing that indianapolis is also the capital but now even cooler let's look at the flag real quick now let's get a view from above of the soldiers and sailors monument in monument circle now that's a perfect match of the flag and so cool the star the circle everything lines up perfectly with the roads that is really neat and it isn't a coincidence because the four white stripes do represent the roads they all meet at the center at monument circle and it also ties in with indianapolis being the crossroads of america the four blue quadrants are for different neighborhoods in the city and the flag is red white and blue to show its patriotism to the usa overall i think indianapolis has one of the coolest flags in the united states it was also ranked eighth in the whole country by the north american vexillological association going from one good flag to the next saint louis whose flag was rated the fifth best in the country by the north american vexillological association the flag was adopted in 1964 replacing this flag which in itself was pretty nice looking too now it's time to break it all down the golden disc at the center symbolizes the city of saint louis and its french heritage st louis is also located at the confluence of the missouri and mississippi rivers which can be seen by the two wavy diagonal lines meaning at the center the single wavy line that continues horizontally is the mississippi river as it goes on by itself to the gulf of mexico the colors on the flag also pay homage to the countries that helped develop saint louis red white and blue is on there for the united states of america france is represented with blue white and red bourbon france is the white and gold and spain is red yellow and gold and that is apparently one of the best flags in the usa i would say the dallas's flag with a star on it is kind of neat if it wasn't that every other city in texas that seems to have a flag has a star i mean heck even baytown texas has an ugly star and that place is just oil refineries about the only place that doesn't have a star on their flag is bastrop texas and that's probably why everybody has a star on their flag i mean what could you possibly want to know about dallas's flag here we got a star with two stars inside of that star so a star inside of a star within a bigger star and inside that big white star is the city seal of dallas which isn't even that good of a city seal it's boring and it's a flag sin no seals on your flag no writing on your flag and it's not distinctive because every single flag in texas seems to have a star and it's red white and blue and let me guess the red white and blue stands for the colors of texas oh guess what they do just like every other flag in texas but you know what dallas you know what really gripes me with all the reasons here not to like your flag seals lettering unoriginal boring i like your flag tulsa's had a long history with different flags for the city but now i think they've found the one in 2017 a group of private citizens tried to get a new flag for the city of tulsa they received over 400 design submissions and had over 8 000 votes cast to choose the winner the new design was a huge success businesses and citizens loved it and that same year the city council voted to have that new flag become the official flag of tulsa and what does it look like here it is blue gold beige and red are the colors on this flag very unique very nice the blue on the top is for the arkansas river which flows right through the city the gold line stands for prosperity because this area well they found gold in 1901 but not the gold you're thinking of i'm talking about black gold crude oil that is tulsa's made quite a name for itself due to oil and it made many people very wealthy which is where the red part of the shield on the flag comes into play it stands for the lives lost during the 1921 tulsa race massacre which destroyed the most prosperous african-american community in the country what happened is city officials promoted white residents to go in there and destroy the neighborhood this of course was after years of tense racial stress over 800 blacks were hospitalized and over 30 were killed and several thousand were left homeless after their homes and businesses were burned it wasn't until the national guard came in and brought order back to tulsa the greenwood neighborhood went from looking like this to this but this flag doesn't stop there the golden shield there is a simplified version of the oklahoma state flag and also represents how native americans were forced to relocate to oklahoma's indian territory after all we just learned this star represents that tulsa has a bright future and lastly the beige and the lower part of the flag represents warmth of the community thanks tulsa wichita's flag was created in 1937 but was completely forgotten until the north american vexillological association decided to rank the sixth best flag in the united states this quickly filled wichitans with a bunch of pride and now the flag is starting to pop up all over the capital city but as with the question of life what does it all mean we'll start with the blue sun in the center which has red and white rays radiating out from it the white symbol inside that blue sun is the native american symbol for home and the stripes alternating from the blue sun represent a path of freedom for people to come and go as they please the flag's creator wanted the flag to bring peace happiness and contentment to all who saw it and i believe this flag accomplishes that it looks really nice and we'll end here on a good note with a city longing for a flag and finally having that dream realized okay go ahead and take a seat time for a little story this is one of my favorites it's an instant classic okay it is called the little city that wanted a flag once upon a time in the not too distant past was a little city in the absolute middle of nowhere its name was sioux falls it saw that all the other cities a million miles away had flags and it wanted one too sioux falls south dakota didn't have a flag even the mayor in 2004 was surprised to find out that the city didn't have a flag so rumblings began why didn't sioux falls have a flag a design competition was held in 2014 and this flag was chosen the winner but it took until 2018 for the city council to finally approve and make this the official flag of sioux falls there was much celebration in the small city as merchandising flags were spread throughout the city homes government buildings offices you name it flag started appearing it was one thing to have the flag but what did the flag mean the yellow sun at the upper left is a symbol from the flag of south dakota that symbol is there because south dakota used to be the sunshine state you know before florida came and ruined it for him so south dakota became the mount rushmore state and they also changed that on their flag the blue portion of the flag alludes to the blue part of the south dakota flag so the whole thing the lower red portion represents sioux quartzite which was quarried nearby and was used to build early sioux falls buildings and lastly the most important symbol the blue and white zigzag is sioux falls itself created out of the big sioux river and if you look at it another way it's also ascending like the growth of sioux falls itself and the little city grew happily ever after the end and that's all we got for this episode we looked at a bunch of flags from the central united states and in the next episode we're going to look at more flags as we move our way west to the west coast of the united states until next time thanks for watching and have a wonderful [Music] [Music] day you

Channel: AJMSTUDIOS

Views: 3,676

Rating: 4.9310346 out of 5

Keywords: vexillology, study of flags, flags, flags of american cities, american city flags, chicago flag, american flags, flag study, american city flag study, north american vexillological association, detroit flag, indianapolis flag, wichita flag, washington dc flag, cincinnati flag, jackson mississippi flag, montgomery flag, ugliest flag, best city flag, flag, usa city flags, usaflags, flags of american cities episode two, st. louis flag, wheeling west virginia flag, sioux falls

Id: 1KD56O8Aslc

Length: 20min 40sec (1240 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 05 2020