Flour barrels: In the 17th century, New York had been granted a short-lived monopoly on milling, which established the fledgling colony as a commercial powerhouse.Windmill: Remembers the Dutch history of the city and the prosperous industry of milling flour.Also the official animal of New York State. Beaver: Symbolizes the Dutch West India Company, which was the first company in New York (originally known as Nieuw Amsterdam).Seaman: Symbolizes the colonizers of the area.Native American: The original inhabitants of the area.Bald eagle: The symbol of the United States of America.The New-York Historical Society originally proposed adopting a horizontal tricolor to be more reflective of the historical Dutch flags, but the committee kept the vertical orientation. The committee's report stated that "the order of arrangement follows the practice found in the French, Belgian and other tri-colors, of placing the darkest bar next to the staff." Orange is the color the Dutch adopted after their leader William I, Prince of Orange. The blue, white and orange refer to the colors of the historical Dutch flag. Section 2-103 of the New York City Administrative Code ("Official city flag") establishes the design as follows:Ī flag combining the colors orange, white and blue arranged in perpendicular bars of equal dimensions (the blue being nearest to the flagstaff) with the standard design of the seal of the city in blue upon the middle, or white bar, omitting the legend Sigillum Civitatis Novi Eboraci, which colors shall be the same as those of the flag of the United Netherlands in use in the year sixteen hundred twenty-five. Design The city's first official flag, 1915 Burrows had another perspective on the debate, saying "You have to wonder if they didn't pick either 1626 or 1625 just to beat Boston, settled in 1630." Nonetheless, the mayor signed O'Dwyer's legislation. Cavanagh concluded: "In researching the validity of this proposal, I find no basis for 1625 as the founding date." An aide to then-mayor Abe Beame suggested that 1624 would be a more accurate date, as that was when the city was actually chartered as a legal Dutch entity. The choice of date was controversial at the time an aide to First Deputy Mayor James A. The change was proposed by the Irish-born Paul O'Dwyer, president of the City Council, to emphasize the Dutch contributions to the city's history and downplay the British legacy. The date was changed from 1664 (when the Kingdom of England took possession) to 1625. The current design dates from December 30, 1977, when the seal was subtly modified. The flag was approved on April 6, 1915, and first unveiled to the public on June 24. Committee of the Art Commission Associates, Seal and Flag of the City of New York, p. In our flag, the colors are Dutch, the arms are English, the crest is distinctively American, but the flag as such is the flag of the City, which has grown from these beginnings to be the home of all nations, the great cosmopolitan city of the world, the City of New York. The committee described their proposed flag this way: The committee consulted with the New-York Historical Society to study historical seals used by city government under the Dutch and English, to incorporate their symbolism into the new city seal and flag. In 1914, to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the installation of the first mayor under English rule, the City Art Commission appointed a blue-ribbon committee to create the city's first official seal and flag. By the end of the 19th century, the city was flying an unofficial flag featuring a round blue seal on a white field. History Unofficial flag featuring the old seal, replaced by the 1915 flagįor the first few hundred years of its existence, the City of New York lacked an official flag and seal. The tricolor design is derived from the flag of the Dutch Republic-the Prince's Flag-as used in New Amsterdam in 1625. The city flag is a vertical tricolor in blue, white, and orange and charged in the center bar with the seal of New York City in blue. The flags of New York City include the flag of New York City, the respective flags of the boroughs of The Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island, and flags of certain city departments. The flag unfurled and fluttering, mounted on a city park yardarm city of New York CityĪ vertical tricolor of blue, white, and orange with a modified blue version of the Seal of New York City in the center.
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