Did You Know?
The Lone Star Flag of Texas first rose in Montgomery — or at least the idea of it did. It was a product of the vision of Dr. Charles Bellinger Stewart, a Montgomery postmaster and pharmacist and the first Secretary of State for the Republic of Texas.
Dr. Stewart was appointed by Republic of Texas President Mirabeau B. Lamar to a committee with Thomas Barnett and Richard Ellis to create an official flag for the Republic. Dr. Stewart sketched on vellum three rectangles of equal size, one vertical and the others horizontal. In the vertical rectangle he placed a lone star. The original drawing was not colored but Dr. Stewart labeled the rectangles blue, white and red. These colors signify loyalty, purity and bravery.
The committee approved the flag design as well as the Republic seal which Stewart had drawn on the same piece of vellum. President Lamar approved both on January 25, 1839. When Texas became a state in 1845, the seal was modified and adopted as the state seal, along with the adoption of the Lone Star Flag as the state flag. The N.H. Davis Pioneer Complex & Museum in Montgomery has a replica of this vellum on display. The original is housed at the Texas State Archives.
The House of Representatives of the 75th Texas Legislature adopted House Resolution #1123, which was then signed by then Governor George Bush on May 30, 1997, proclaiming Montgomery County as Birthplace of the Lone Star Flag. Today, the flag is flown proudly in Montgomery as a symbol of the strength, aspiration, bravery and loyalty of Texas’ early settlers.
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