The flag was brought to the Missouri State Capitol in 1908 and bills to adopt the flag as the official flag of Missouri were introduced by Senator Arthur L. Oliver, her nephew, in 1909 and 1911. Both bills failed to pass in the House. A competing flag design, by Dr. G.H. Holcomb and referred to as the “Holcomb flag”, was opposed due to its resemblance to the Flag of the United States and its lack of Missouri symbolism. Oliver’s original paper flag was destroyed when the Missouri State Capitol burned in 1911. With Mrs. S.D. MacFarland, Oliver sewed a second flag out of silk. The flag design remains unchanged to this day.
The silk flag was kept by Marie Oliver until 1961 when her son Allen gave it to the state of Missouri. The flag was displayed until it began to deteriorate and was put into storage. In 1988, Secretary of State Roy D. Blunt issued a challenge to elementary students to raise money to restore the flag. The campaign was successful and the restored flag has been displayed in the James C. Kirkpatrick State Information Center in Jefferson City ever since.
State Nickname:
Missouri’s most well-known nickname is; “The Show-Me State.” Although the nickname has not been officially recognized by Missouri’s Legislature, it can be seen on Missouri license plates.
There are several stories concerning the origin of the “Show-Me” slogan. The most widely known story gives credit to Missouri’s U.S. Congressman Willard Duncan Vandiver for coining the phrase in 1899. During a speech in Philadelphia, he said:
“I come from a state that raises corn and cotton and cockleburs and Democrats, and frothy eloquence neither convinces nor satisfies me. I am from Missouri. You have got to show me.”
This origin is disputed as some sources claim that the nickname was in common use well before 1899.
The phrase is now used to describe the character of Missourians: not gullible, conservative, and unwilling to believe without adequate evidence.