Flag Day: A Great Idea from a Great Laker
Flags line the 660-foot porch at Grand Hotel, Mackinac Island, Michigan
The United States celebrates its Star and Stripes with Flag Day on June 14, the date in 1777 that the Continental Congress adopted the red, white and blue banner symbolizing the USA.
It was a Great Laker, Bernard J. Cigrand (1866-1932) of Waubeka, Wisconsin, who is credited with holding the first formal Flag Day observation on June 14, 1885 at Stony Hill School in Waubeka (north of Milwaukee).
He was a teacher who displayed a small, 10-inch flag in his classroom and had each of his students write an essay about what the U.S. flag meant to them.
The replica tall ship Friends Good Will at the Michigan Maritime Museum, South Haven
Cigrand left teaching to study dentistry and he became a dentist in Chicago. Throughout his studies and career as a dentist, through speeches and articles, he continued to be an active promoter of patriotism, respect for the flag, and insistence that June 14 be observed as Flag Day.
On May 30, 1916, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed an official day of recognition of the flag, but it wasn’t until 1949—long after Cigrand died—that President Harry Truman, with an Act of Congress, designated June 14 as Flag Day.
In 2004 Congress recognized the birthplace of Flag Day as Ozaukee County and Waubeka, Wisconsin.
Bernard Cigrand, the “Father of Flag Day,” is honored in the National Flag Day Americanism Center in Waubeka, Wisconsin.
A family shows unflagging support of the Stars and Stripes at a July Fourth celebration in Naubinway, Michigan
For more information on the flag, flag etiquette and answers to questions such as, “Why is the flag ‘backwards’ on military uniforms?” check out USFlag.org
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Thanks!
Nice report on Flag Day. The USGA always recognizes Flag Day at the US Open – and they did so again today at Erin Hills Golf Course. From the little coverage I saw, they failed to note that that Cigrand was from Wisconsin. I had talked with some staffers late last summer and suggested they might want to use the occasion to invite someone from Waubeka to their ceremony. Looks like they didn’t. I guess they’re too busy worrying about the playability of the fescue. Nice article & photos!
Remind them for next time. Thanks for the comment!