State Flag of Utah – Legacy of the Beehive State
Posted:
June 10, 2018
Categories:
State Flag Information

Early History
When looking at the flags that have represented the state of Utah, a casual observer may think there are only two different ones. In fact, there are three, although the difference between the second and third is incredibly subtle. The official seal of the State of Utah has always been the primary symbol on the flag. The seal was adopted just three months after Utah officially became the 45th state in January 1896. The first flag followed a few years later when it was debuted at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in March 1903. It featured the state seal simply drawn in white lines on a solid blue field. It has one thing in common with quite a few other Western states; it was originally designed by the Daughters of the American Revolution. The governor of Utah commissioned the DAR to design the flag, so it was commonly called the “Governor’s Flag” until it was officially adopted as the state flag by the Utah legislature in 1911. It did not enjoy a long life as the official flag. A new design replaced it in January 1913.
Evolution of the Modern Flag
The two most recent flags of Utah both came about due to flag makers’ errors. In 1912, shortly after the official adoption of the first flag, a group called the Sons and Daughters of Utah Pioneers commissioned a flag to be presented to the battleship USS Utah. When the flag arrived, the flag maker mistakenly rendered the seal in color and added a gold circle around the seal. It turned out to be a fortuitous error, as one group member proposed that this full-color flag replace the current white outline. The state legislature adopted the colorful flag and hung it above the state capitol in Salt Lake City in January of 1913. This new flag was eventually given to the USS Utah and flew above the ship for the first time on June 25, 1913. There was even a gala held in honor of the new flag. Unlike the first official state flag, the second official state flag endured nearly 100 years. In 2011, the Utah State Legislature decided to fix an error that had appeared on the state flag since 1922. At some point in that year, a flag maker mistakenly printed the year “1847” below the shield on the state seal instead of on the shield as it should be. This mistake was copied and persisted until the 59th legislative session in March 2011. The year was moved inside the shield, into its rightful place, and the third state flag of Utah was officially adopted.