Community Corner
The American Flags of Tolland
Today is Flag Day, a day for the country to celebrate the significance of the Stars and Stripes. How well do you know the flags hanging in town?
On June 14, 1885, BJ Cigrand decided that 108 years after the Flag Resolution was adopted it was time to celebrate the grand old flag’s birthday.
The story has it that Cigrand, a Wisconsin schoolteacher, put together a little ceremony with his students and called the event “Flag Birthday,” according to USFlag.org.
The concept caught on and in 1889, a kindergarten teacher named George Balch from New York held his own classroom ceremony in honor of the Stars and Stripes, according to the site. Gradually, various regional school and state Boards of Education, historic groups and eventually two presidents and Congress endorsed the idea.
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On May 30, 1916, President Woodrow Wilson issued a presidential proclamation recognizing the day. President Harry S. Truman followed this up on May 28, 1945 with his own proclamation and then on Aug. 3, 1949, with Congress’s approval, Flag Day became a national holiday.
In honor of the day, Tolland Patch guest editor Megan Bard has traveled around town and taken pictures of nine American Flags. If you identify the flags’ locations correctly by midnight on Tuesday (Flag Day!) you could win a gift from Patch. Send your answers to Megan at megan.bard@patch.com.
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In the meantime, if you have your own picture of Old Glory, please add it to the photo gallery.
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