Friday, January 04, 2008

112 years ago today

Today is when we celebrate our admittance to the Union as a state. I've hear some people say that's what we celebrate on the 24th of July, which is wrong. We don't have a parade for statehood day because it's too cold in Utah in January.

I had always thought this picture was taken on Jan 4, 1896:



But, I was wrong. The flag was hung on the Temple in July 1897 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the arrival of the Mormon pioneers.

It was known as the statehood flag, and it did hang in Temple Square in January 1896. It was hung from the ceiling of the Tabernacle:



-Bob

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Why is the flag hung on the Temple with stars first?

In my work drafting General Wes Clark to run for president, I learned that is the "charging" or "battle" flag, which would be held that way as the soldiers holding a flag on a pole would running up a hill.

Seems rather combative for a 50th anniversary of the pioneers.

Bob said...

The story I've heard is that the flag was only hung backwards for a few hours, until someone noticed it. The guys who hung the flag from the roof couldn't see their mistake.

-Bob