Flag of Anchorage, Alaska

Last updated
City of Anchorage
Flag of Anchorage, Alaska.svg
Proportion2:3 [1]
Adopted1973
DesignA yellow field with the words "ANCHORAGE ALASKA" around a blue-bordered white circle featuring a blue anchor, blue airplane, yellow sun, and yellow sailboat
Designed byJoan Kimura

The flag of Anchorage, Alaska, was adopted by the city of Anchorage in 1973. [2] It is a field of yellow with the seal of the city, which features a blue anchor in the foreground as well as a blue airplane, yellow sun, and yellow sailboat in the background. The words "ANCHORAGE ALASKA" are also present.

Contents

History

In 1973, the city of Anchorage held a contest to adopt a city flag for the first time. Artist and longtime art professor at the University of Alaska Anchorage Joan Kimura submitted an acrylic painting of her design which was slightly adjusted and then adopted by the city. In 1975 the Anchorage Assembly passed a resolution to adapt the seal on the flag into the seal of the city, which is still in use today. [2]

Symbolism

The large anchor is in reference to the city's name as well as its origin as an anchorage, notably for the third voyage of James Cook. [1] The modern airplane symbolizes Anchorage's role as a transportation hub with its Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport. [3] The yellow sun symbolizes the city's variation in daylight across the seasons due to its northern latitude. [3] The ship is HMS Resolution used by Captain James Cook in his exploration of the Cook Inlet, upon which Anchorage was founded. [3] It is unknown what the field of yellow is meant to represent, but it is possibly in reference to the Yukon Gold Rush.

Reception

The flag flying alongside the Flag of Alaska and the Flag of the United States at the Anchorage Museum Flags in Anchorage, Alaska.jpg
The flag flying alongside the Flag of Alaska and the Flag of the United States at the Anchorage Museum

The North American Vexillological Association ranked the Anchorage flag as the 29th best of 150 selected city flags in the United States and rated it a 5.33 out of 10. [4] Ted Kaye, secretary of the Association, said "it has great imagery, an anchor for Anchorage is just super. But writing the words Anchorage, Alaska on the flag, in a sense, shows that Anchorage is insecure about its symbolism." [2]

The flag is rarely seen in the city; it is most notably flown at the Anchorage public library and the Anchorage Museum. [2]

The Kimura Art Gallery at the University of Alaska Anchorage is named in honor of Sam Kimura, Professor Emeritus of Art, and the flag's designer and also Professor of Art, Joan Kimura. [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North American Vexillological Association</span> Flag-studies organization

The North American Vexillological Association (NAVA) is a membership organization devoted to vexillology, the study of flags. It was founded in 1967 by American vexillologist Whitney Smith, and others. Its membership of 1,100+ comprises flag scholars, enthusiasts, designers, collectors, conservators, educators, merchants, manufacturers, historians, and hobbyists from most states and provinces of the United States and Canada, and more than 30 other countries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flag of Minneapolis</span> Flag

The flag of Minneapolis is the official municipal flag of Minneapolis, Minnesota.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flag of Los Angeles</span> Official flag of the City of Los Angeles

The city flag of Los Angeles consists of a background of three notched stripes of green, gold and red. The flag was designed by Roy E. Silent and E.S. Jones in 1931 for the Los Angeles sesquicentennial from 1781.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flag of Nashville, Tennessee</span> City flag of Nashville, Tennessee

The flag of Nashville, Tennessee, consists of the city's seal on a white disc surrounded by a field of blue, with a strip of gold on the fly. According to the resolution adopting the flag, the blue stands for the courage and conviction of the city's leaders throughout history, while the gold denotes the richness of city's land and resources. The flag was adopted in December 1963 when the governments of Nashville and Davidson County merged to form the Metro government. In an official ceremony, it was reigned in as the new flag on August 4, 1964, at the Metropolitan Courthouse. The flag is modeled after the Tennessee state flag.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flag of Portland, Oregon</span> Flag of Portland, Oregon

The city flag of Portland, Oregon, consists of a green field on which is placed a white four-pointed star from which radiate blue stripes, each bordered by L-shaped yellow elements (esquarres). Narrow white fimbriations separate the blue and yellow elements from each other and from the green background. The official ordinance specifies a height of 3 feet and a length of 5 feet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flag of Denver</span>

The flag of Denver is the official flag of the City and County of Denver in Colorado. It was designed by a North High School student, Margaret Overbeck, and adopted in 1926. A zigzag white stripe horizontally separates a red field below from a blue field above, in which is centered a yellow circle, together forming a stylized depiction of the Sun in a blue sky above snow-capped mountains. The color yellow symbolizes gold in the state's hills, and red the colored earth to which the word colorado refers. The circle's centered position symbolizes Denver's central location within the state. The white zigzag symbolizes Colorado's Native American heritage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flag of Las Vegas</span> Official Flag of the City of Las Vegas

The flag of Las Vegas, consists of blue field with a diagonal gray stripe running from the top of the hoist to the bottom of the fly. Las Vegas' city seal, adopted on March 16, 1966 and designed by Richard Thompson, is located in the canton breaking the stripe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flag of St. Louis</span>

The flag of St. Louis, Missouri, consists of a solid red background and three thick, wavy lines colored blue and white extending from the top left corner, bottom left corner, and center right edge. At the intersection of these lines there is a yellow disk containing a blue fleur-de-lis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flag of Boston</span> Official flag of the U.S. capital of Boston

The flag of Boston consists of a sky blue field and the seal of the city of Boston, Massachusetts, United States, in the center. The flag is sometimes flown in a darker shade of blue, more of a turquoise. It was designed in 1913 and adopted by the Boston City Council on January 29, 1917.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flag of Cincinnati</span> Municipal banner of the city of Cincinnati, Ohio

The flag of Cincinnati is the municipal banner of the city of Cincinnati, Ohio, in the United States. The design was selected in an 1896 contest. It was formally adopted on June 15, 1940.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flag of the Navajo Nation</span> Native American flag

The flag of the Navajo Nation is the official flag of the Navajo Nation, a Native American governed nation in the Four Corners states of Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flag of Charlottetown</span>

The flag of Charlottetown is the official municipal flag of Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. It was designed by Robert D. Watt.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flag of San Jose, California</span>

The flag of San Jose is the official municipal flag of San Jose, California. The current design, a triband of gold on top, white in the middle, and blue on the bottom with the city's official seal in the center, has been the official flag since 1984.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flag of Austin, Texas</span> Flag of Austin, Texas

The flag of Austin is the official municipal flag of Austin, Texas. The flag simply consists of a white field with the seal of Austin without the surrounding circle of text. Below the seal of Austin is the text "CITY OF AUSTIN", written in blue and arched upwards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flag of Columbus, Ohio</span> Official flag of the capital of Ohio

The flag of Columbus is the official municipal flag of Columbus, Ohio. Its current design is a yellow, white, red vertical triband with the city seal on a blue field. Officially, the flag was adopted in 1929, although it is unknown if the flag was ever flown when it was first adopted.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flag of El Paso, Texas</span>

The flag of El Paso is the official municipal flag of El Paso, Texas. The current design, an augmentation of El Paso's seal in the center of a dark blue field, has been in place since 1962.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flag of Saint Paul, Minnesota</span>

The flag of Saint Paul is the official municipal flag of Saint Paul, Minnesota. Adopted via a 1932 competition, the current flag is a yellow-blue-yellow horizontal triband. A red shield depicting various aspects of St. Paul's industry and history is in the foreground and a red ribbon reading "SAINT PAUL" in yellow font below the shield.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flag of South Bend, Indiana</span>

The flag of South Bend, Indiana, was adopted by the city council during the mayorship of Pete Buttigieg on April 25, 2016. It is a field of white and yellow separated by a two blue curved lines with a white line between them and a red six-pointed star in the upper left corner.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flag of Burlington, Vermont</span>

The flag of Burlington, Vermont was adopted by the Burlington city council on November 27, 2017 during the mayorship of Miro Weinberger. It is five horizontal, zig-zag stripes of blue, white, green, white, and blue.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flag of Pocatello, Idaho</span> City flag

The flag of Pocatello is the official flag of the city of Pocatello, Idaho, United States. The present flag was adopted on July 20, 2017, replacing the previous flag, used unofficially from 2001 to 2017. The former flag was considered by a 2004 survey of the North American Vexillological Association to be the worst of 150 selected US city flags. The current flag is commonly known as the Mountains Left, while the previous flag was known as the Proud to be Pocatello.

References

  1. 1 2 "Anchorage, Alaska (U.S.)". www.crwflags.com. Retrieved 2020-09-29.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Petersen, Victoria (2018-05-01). "Why don't more residents know about Anchorage's flag?". Alaska Public Media - Anchorage.
  3. 1 2 3 Purcell, John M.; Croft, James A.; Monahan, Rich (2002–2003). "American City Flags" (PDF). Raven: A Journal of Vexillology. 9–10: 12–13.
  4. "2004 American City Flags Survey", North American Vexillological Association press release, 2 October 2004
  5. "Kimura Gallery | College of Arts and Sciences | University of Alaska Anchorage". www.uaa.alaska.edu. Archived from the original on 2021-04-23. Retrieved 2020-09-29.