Utah Flag on Our Flagpole

Utah – The Beehive State

Utah State Flag 1903 to 1913
Utah State Flag 1903 to 1913

Initially this flag was known as the “Governor’s Flag” until Senate Joint Resolution 17 was passed by the legislature on March 9, 1911, making it the official state flag.

In 1912, the Sons and Daughters of Utah Pioneers ordered a custom made copy of the newly adopted flag to be presented to the battleship USS Utah, which was commissioned on August 31, 1911. When the flag arrived, the group discovered that the shield on the flag was in full color instead of white, and the manufacturer had added a gold ring around the shield. Rather than have the flag remade, Annie Wells Cannon introduced HJR 1 and the Utah legislature changed the law to allow the changes found on the 1913 version to become part of the official flag.

During the 59th state legislative session in 2011, a Concurrent Resolution was adopted requiring flag makers to fix a mistake found on all current Utah state flags. The mistake originated in 1922 when a flag maker misplaced the year 1847, by stitching it just above the year 1896, instead of in its correct position on the shield. It is believed every flag made since 1922 used this flag as a model, and the mistake has been present for 89 years.

State Nickname:

Utah’s nickname is The Beehive State. The beehive is a symbol of hard work and industry, and is in fact Utah’s official state emblem (Utah’s state motto is also simply the word “Industry”).

Beehive
Beehive
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