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Lancaster, Pennsylvania (U.S.)

Lancaster County

image located by Valentin Poposki, 21 September 2012
Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lancaster,_Pennsylvania

Description of the flag
Variant flag
Seal

See also:

Description of the flag

A blue flag with the seal in the center, displaced upwards to place a branch of a red rose below.
Valentin Poposki, 21 September 2012

According to the Lancaster Intelligencer, Mayor J. St. Clair McCall from York, PA. on April 10, 1907 discussed with Lancaster Mayor J.P. McCaskey about the city flag, with McCall returning at noon with designs the mayor of Lancaster submitted for a flag of York. He also had a design for the flag of Lancaster he believed the municipality would adopt.
Source: https://www.newspapers.com/image/556804043/?terms=lancaster%20flag&match=1

In the end, Lancaster adopted a blue flag with a white center displaying the coat of arms of old Lancaster, England. The coat of arms displays the lion of England on a red field with the lilies of France upon a blue field. The shield rests upon the open petals of the rose. I am seeing conflicting descriptions from other newspaper articles, but this is what I think is what MIGHT have been agreed upon, and today it is different. Do not take what I think happened with its design to heart. It seems to have been adopted in April, but only first flown on the morning of 12 July 1907, the flag itself standing at 10x15 feet (translating into 2:3 proportions).
Daniel Rentería, 24 September 2023

Variant flag

image located by Valentin Poposki, 21 September 2012

A variant of the flag shows the seal properly centered and the red rose branch partly overlapping it.
Valentin Poposki, 21 September 2012

Seal

image located by Paul Bassinson, 22 November 2019

Source: http://lancastercsc.org/
Paul Bassinson, 22 November 2019

Historical flag

image located by Daniel Rentería, 6 October 2023

As seen as this document entitled "City Flags of Pennsylvania" from 1908, it says the Jamestown Exposition Committee of the State of Pennsylvania was the origin of the idea of a municipal flag. They asked the cities of Pennsylvania to adopt a flag to display at the exposition. McCaskey learned of this and presented the idea to the councils.

Mayor of Lancaster John Piersol McCaskey believed a blue and a white center containing the coat of arms of old Lancaster would be good. The shield is said to have represented the lion of England on a red field and the lilies of France on a blue field, with the shield resting upon the open petals of a red rose. Of course, McCaskey mentioned the colors were "red, white, and blue", the national flag colors.

However, keep in mind this was not what became the flag. It was resolved in the council meeting, which happened on April 3, 1907, the council approved a flag committee of three, who were presiding officers of the Select and Common Councils, S. T. Davis, John C. Dinan, and of course McCaskey.

In the end, on May 1, 1907, Lancaster's Select and Common Councils adopted as official by presentation of the committee, a rich blue flag with a white circle in the center containing a legend and significant emblems. The legend in the report is described to present Lancaster in the old time and the new. Inside of it is the red rose of the House of Lancaster, inside it a coat of arms. The coat of arms contains a Conestoga wagon representing transportation and trade, in the center, the bar and globes are distinguishing features from the coat of arms of William Penn, and below are sheaves of wheat for agriculture. Below is a red rose. As you can expect, the flag is still used to this day. The flag was originally intended for use on windows, etc. at the exposition, so its proportions were 4:3 in a vertical manner originally. It seems that, according to this article, the flag was sketched by Fred P. Mentzer and manufactured by Horstman Co.

Daniel Rentería, 6 October 2023