By Anita B. Stone
A little-known but fascinating fact about Raleigh is that the city has its own official municipal flag—one of only 450 city flags in the United States—and it’s unique in that each side displays a different design.
The idea for a city flag was first introduced in October 1899, when the Raleigh Board of Aldermen sought to create a flag that would be distinctly Raleigh. Their goal was to present this new flag as a gift to the USS Raleigh, a Navy cruiser constructed in Portsmouth, Virginia.
After much discussion, a special committee decided that red and white would be used as the “colors emblematic of Raleigh.” The flag would also feature a recognizable city symbol. A seal was selected that included a green silhouette of an oak tree along with the text, “City of Raleigh 1792,” referencing both Raleigh’s nickname—the “City of Oaks”—and the year land was purchased in Wake County to build the state capital. That same year, the North Carolina General Assembly officially named the city “Raleigh.”
The front of the flag shows an oak tree surrounded by a wreath of green leaves and gold acorns, as well as two pieces of text reading, ‘City of Raleigh,’ and ‘North Carolina.’ The reverse displays Sir Walter Raleigh’s coat of arms with the addition of a black deer atop the shield, a reference to the Old English meaning of ‘Raleigh’ which was ‘meadow of the deer.’ Below this emblem is written, ‘Amore et Virtute which translates to ‘By Love and Valor,’ Sir Walter’s motto.
Once the committee approved the design, the next step was to find someone to sew the flag. A bookkeeping entry of November 1899 revealed an amount of $52.00 paid to Kate Denson for sewing the flag. The committee chose Denson, a country singer, to sew the flag because she toured America and people could learn of a Raleigh City Flag in the making. She had not completed the flag when the ship made a stop at Wilmington. At that time, the flag was supposed to be given to the USS Raleigh, but the ship was decommissioned before it could receive it. Although the ship was commissioned again in the future, it is unknown if the flag made it on board. Many years later, in 1960, an original flag was found in Raleigh’s city storage by the city manager.
An eleven-year restoring process began to renew the flag that was found in storage. It is likely many people experimented with several adhesive restoration techniques. Once the flag was restored, and a few minor changes were made to the design, it was put on display at the City Hall in 1980. One of the significant changes was the removal of the date within the gold ring, replaced with, ‘Established 1792’ at the base of the tree. Also, the coat of arms, on the reverse side, was simplified. For the flag’s 100th birthday in 1999, the flag was given to the City of Raleigh Museum, where it remains today as part of an exhibit on Raleigh’s city flag. The museum is open to all visitors, including school children, to view this historic flag, which was readopted as the City Flag of Raleigh on April 25, 1960 and has remained that way for the past several decades, as only one of 450 cities in the United States with a city flag.
The flag ranked 56 out of 150 American city flags in a 2004 North American Vexilogical Association survey. It made it the highest ranked North Carolina city on the list beating out Charlotte’s flag, which placed 66th and Greensboro’s flag which placed 98th.
Arguably, never widely adopted, the 120-plus-year old flag’s potentially new design was a hot topic a few years ago, when residents called for an upgraded emblem to better represent Raleigh with ideas flying about Twitter and Reddit—and as a matter of City Council discussion, to no end; hence, the New Raleigh Flag campaign.
In 2021, the new Raleigh flag campaign, led by Raleighite, Brian Rineer, began. “The purpose of a flag is to signal identity at a distance,” says Rineer.” I think there’s a desire to have something like that—people like living here and they’re proud of the city. I think they would like to show that sense of identity with a recognizable symbol.”
Rineer, along with his son, Craig, became Inspired to create a more recognizable Raleigh flag, A handful of other Raleighites, collaborated to create a new flag. This grassroots group is still attempting to renovate the flag, and continue to make progress with the city council.
You can take part in the discussion, join the campaign, or simply get a new flag of your very own on the New Raleigh Flag’s website. Or join an upcoming meeting to take a bigger part in the movement.
