Last modified: 2018-07-26 by rick wyatt
Keywords: tallahassee | florida | saltire | leon county |
Links: FOTW homepage |
search |
disclaimer and copyright |
write us |
mirrors
4:7 image(s) by permission of David B. Martucci
image(s) from American City Flags,
Raven
9-10 (2002-2003), courtesy of the North American Vexillological Association,
which retains copyright.
See also:
Text and image(s) from American City Flags, Raven 9-10 (2002-2003), courtesy of the North American Vexillological Association, which retains copyright. Image(s) from American City Flags by permission of David B. Martucci.
Tallahassee’s flag is a white saltire on a dark blue field, with
the city seal in blue on a gold background overlaying the center. On a
field of 4 by 7 units, the seal is about 2 units in diameter. Immediately
within the seal’s outer edge is a narrow white ring, into which emanate
some 80 tiny black triangles, suggesting the cut edge of a seal. Within
the white ring is a gold ring, the inner edge of which is formed by a
narrow black ring. Curved over the top of the gold ring is CITY of
TALLAHASSEE, and counterclockwise below is FLORIDA, all in black
and an Arial-type font. The dome of the capitol appears in the center of
the seal, its lower portion white detailed in black and its upper portion
black detailed in white. A small United States flag flies atop the dome,
blowing toward the hoist. Clouds on either side of the dome are gold
edged in black.
John M. Purcell, American City Flags,
Raven
9-10,
2002-2003
At the urging of Mrs. Florence R. S. Phillips,
one-time secretary of the Tallahassee Booster Club (a forerunner of the
chamber of commerce), and City Engineer Miller Walston, the city
commission held a contest for a new city flag sometime in 1916.
Flag adopted: 1957 (official).
John M. Purcell, American City Flags,
Raven
9-10,
2002-2003
Miss Abernathy, an art teacher at Florida State College
for Women.
John M. Purcell, American City Flags,
Raven
9-10,
2002-2003
2:3 image(s) by permission of David B. Martucci
image(s) from American City Flags,
Raven
9-10 (2002-2003), courtesy of the North American Vexillological Association,
which retains copyright.
From its creation, the flag was apparently
considered the city flag,
even though not officially adopted,
since an ordinance existed prohibiting
its use for advertising or commercial
purposes without the approval
of the city commission. The
original flag had the seal in blue on white. It was evidently changed to
gold about the time of its official adoption in 1957. According to a
number of references, the flag appeared for years on city postcards
with an account of its history.
John M. Purcell, American City Flags,
Raven
9-10,
2002-2003
The NAVA image shown in American City Flags (Purcell, 2003) is the blue saltire flag. The seal as shown on the flag (with state Capitol dome) is not the one used by the city government (www.talgov.com/mayor/images/cot-seal2.gif),
which shows a large tree instead (image archived here).
António Martins-Tuválkin, 3 June 2008
partial image by António Martins-Tuválkin, 3 June 2008
The link at www.co.leon.fl.us/admin/images/flags.jpg shows a photo of yet another Tallahassee city flag (along with the relevant national, state and county flags). This is white with a squarish logo showing local landmarks in purple line drawings above the the city name written in light greenish blue sans/serif capitals; thin golden border all (?) around the edge (not a fringe, cp. w/ the other flags on the photo). The image here is provisional, showing the visible bits from this photo - it may trigger memories.
António Martins-Tuválkin, 3 June 2008
image located by Valentin Poposki, 15 June 2011
Yet another, third version of the flag of the City of Tallahassee, Florida:
www.flickr.com/photos/ferret111/5488879647. Even the guy who took the picture, probably a local resident, is wondering what's going on?
Valentin Poposki, 15 June 2011
When one looks at the official City of Tallahassee official website (www.talgov.com), they feature a logo (www.tallahasseedowntown.com/images/logo_tallahassee.jpg) on their home, which is a star, exactly like the one you've pointed out in the Flickr picture. So I guess they have indeed changed the flag.
Esteban Rivera, 15 June 2011
image located by Valentin Poposki, 13 December 2011
The first flag of the City of Tallahassee, Florida is shown on a postcard presented in a book Postcard History Series - Tallahassee" from Lynn M. Homan and Thomas Reilly. It can be seen in Google Books: books.google.com, on page 9. Unfortunately, the picture is black and white. The only information is that the flag was adopted in 1915.
Valentin Poposki, 13 March 2010