MPR’s Karen Boros interviews vexillologist Father William Becker about the history and many versions of the Minnesota State flag since its first appearance in an exhibition at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair. Becker is asking the Minnesota legislature to consider changing the flag design again…and is providing an option.
The The North Star Flag design was created by Lee Herold and Reverend William Becker. The unofficial flag has the colors of green, representing forests, white, representing winter, and blue, representing water. A yellow star in the top left represents the North Star and the state's motto, L'Étoile du Nord.
Transcripts
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KAREN BURRIS: The original Minnesota flag was designed by a Minneapolis woman, Elizabeth Carter, for entry in the world Fair at Chicago in 1893. The flag was two-sided, white on the front with the state seal, solid blue on the back. Father William Becker is a Rochester priest who studies flags and says the two-sided design was not very practical.
WILLIAM BECKER: In 1893, they were not trying to design a flag for display from public buildings. You can tell that from a couple of things. First of all, the needle-- the stitchery is very exquisite. And the flag has two sides. If you fly that in a wind, it will tear very quickly.
KAREN BURRIS: Father Becker is a vexillologist, one of about a dozen serious students of flags and seals in Minnesota. He told lawmakers that the first flag was never popular because the design was too complex and indistinct from afar.
Despite those problems, the two-sided flag flew over Minnesota for 64 years until 1957 when it was simplified. The flag was changed again in 1983 when the state seal was altered. The current Minnesota flag is blue, with the state seal in the center surrounded by a pattern of 19 stars symbolic of being the 19th state after the original 13.
But the Minnesota flag is hardly unique. 25 state flags feature a state seal on a solid background, which is not the only problem, father Becker pointed out. The Minnesota flag is now one-sided and transparent or backwards.
WILLIAM BECKER: On the reverse, the flag reads backwards. That is a problem with the flag even today, Minnesota reads backwards the state motto, all the numbers, and of course, the action in the seal reads backwards.
KAREN BURRIS: A flag that reads the same from both sides is what Father Becker has been working on for the last two or three years. What he unveiled today is a flag featuring a large gold star on a field of blue with waving bands of green and white across the bottom.
WILLIAM BECKER: You can see blue for the sky. Blue, waters. Green for our land, our forests and fields, agriculture. White for our winter snows. Gold for our mineral wealth. The North Star State. We are the North Star State. The star appears prominently.
KAREN BURRIS: The center of the star features a trefoil, similar in shape to a Boy Scout pin featuring the state bird, the loon, the state tree, the Norway pine, and the lady slipper, the state flower.
The current flag, despite what some consider to be design flaws, is not likely to be disposed of quickly or lightly. One lawmaker pointed out that five generations of her family have lived and worked under the state flag so far, and she sees no reason for radical change.
If there are changes, they are unlikely this session of the legislature. Lawmakers today took the suggestion for change under advisement, and expect no further action until the 1990 session. At the State Capitol. I'm Karen Burris.