August 19, 2026 – Missouri

Today, the flag of the State of Missouri and the City of Kansas City, Missouri fly in a belated celebration of Missouri’s admission to the Union on August 10, 1821 as the 24th state.

The flag of Missouri was adopted on March 22, 1913, on the third attempt. It was designed by Mrs. Marie Elizabeth Watkins Oliver.

Missouri Revised Statutes § 10.020 defines the flag as follows, “The official flag of the state of Missouri is rectangular in shape and its vertical width is to the horizontal length as seven is to twelve.  It has one red, one white and one blue horizontal stripe of equal width; the red is at the top and the blue at the bottom.  In the center of the flag there is a band of blue in the form of a circle enclosing the coat of arms in the colors as established by law on a white ground.  The width of the blue band is one-fourteenth of the vertical width of the flag and the diameter of the circle is one-third of the horizontal length of the flag.  In the blue band there are set at equal distances from each other twenty-four five-pointed stars.  The original copy of the design shall be kept in the office of the secretary of state.  The flag shall conform to the design set out on page xxii.”

I was lucky enough to travel to Missouri this summer and visited its impressive state captol in Jefferson City.

On February 9, 2023, the City Council of Kansas City adopted Ordinance 230125, which adopted the city’s fifth flag. This simplified design, takes a modified version of the city’s symbol and places it on horizontal bands of red and blue.

In the 2004 book American City Flags by John M. Purcell with James A. Croft and Rich Monahan, edited by Edward B. Kaye, it’s noted that out of the 150 cities included in the book, Kansas City has had the most flags.