Oregon’s state flag was adopted in 1925 after a postmaster’s request. It is the only two-sided state flag, displaying different designs. A 2001 survey ranked it as the 40th worst-designed flag. The front features symbols of the state’s history and resources, while the back displays a beaver, the state animal.
State legislators officially adopted the Oregon state flag in 1925. The adoption was in response to a postmaster’s request for an official flag to be sent to Washington, DC, to be displayed in a grouping of the 50 flags of state. Department store seamstresses had stitched the design. This original artifact was displayed at Eastern Oregon University.
Oregon is distinctive in that it is the only one of the 50 states whose official flag displays a design on the front that does not match the design on the reverse. The two-sided state flag is a rarity today, but many state flag designs were once similar. Other states have chosen to modify their flags, either by making the back a mirror image of the front, or by printing a design on one side only, because it costs too much money to produce flags with different images on the front and back.
A 2001 survey by an association of experts in flag design and history determined that the state flag of Oregon is among the worst designed flags, placing it at number 40 of the 50 state flags. Their reasons include that the double-sided flag costs taxpayers too much money to produce. It is also difficult to identify it from a distance. The flag used by the state military department led to the design of the state flag of Oregon. For the state’s sesquicentennial in 2009, a newspaper ran a contest looking for a new design, but a new design was never approved by lawmakers.
The state flag of Oregon is blue. In the center of the flag is an image of the official state seal, and above it are gold letters that read “State of Oregon.” Below the heart-shaped seal topped with an eagle is stamped the year Oregon attained statehood, 1859, also in gold. Stars surround the seal on the flag and there are 33 of them to indicate that Oregon was the 33rd state to join the union. Oregon caught up in the state following Minnesota, which became the 32nd state just nine months earlier. The state flag of Oregon displays an image of a beaver on the reverse side because lawmakers have called the beaver the official animal of Oregon, and “The Beaver State” is Oregon’s official nickname.
The front of the Oregon state flag is filled with symbolism that reflects the state’s history and its wealth of natural resources. As seen on the seal on the face of the flag, there is a Conestoga wagon, also called a covered wagon, representing pioneers who defied primitive travel conditions across the plains on the Oregon Trail to populate the fertile land. The soil is rich and beneficial for the production of fruit trees and other crops, leading to the symbols of a sheaf of corn and a plough. A pickaxe represents Oregon’s mining industry, and the state’s abundant natural beauty is shown in a setting sun setting toward the Pacific Ocean, which borders Oregon to the west.
Numerous trees and a majestic mountain also grace the face of the flag, and elk represent the state’s wildlife. There are also two ships depicted, one American and one British. They represent the treaty between the United States and Great Britain in 1846 that established Oregon membership in the United States.
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