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Raising 46 Star Flag on Campus
Postcard image from 1908 courtesy of Hank Zaletel

On July 4, 1908, a new American flag featuring an additional star was made official following the Indian Territory's entrance to the Union as Oklahoma (November of 1907).  In this photo, the 46-star flag is raised on a new flagpole within sight of Morrill Hall and Marston Water Tower.  Engineering Hall and the roof of the campus station for the recently retired steam Dinkey is also visible.

The 46-star flag was sometimes called the Oklahoma flag.  View Oklahoma's own historic 46-star flag.  There had previously been 45 stars in the blue field since 1896 when Utah joined the Union.  The 46 star flag remained the official banner until 1912, when New Mexico (January 6, 1912) and Arizona (February 14, 1912) joined the Union, changing the number of stars to 48.

The new flag was raised on campus several months after Oklahoma joined the union, but before the official July 4th date set by Congress.

Do you see the new flagpole - isn't it dandy.  You ought to have been here Wednesday when the Local Alumni had their picnic - a very good time.  Good wishes, Maude.

There was no officially designated pattern for the 46-stars in the flag used from 1908 until 1912, so at least three different variations of the flag were in common use.  A presidential order was issued fixing the position of the stars for the 1912 48-star flag, however.  Presidential orders followed the adoption of the flags of 1959 and 1960, as well.

This variation was used for the flag flown on the ISC campus.

Robert Peary placed the 46-star flag his wife had sewn atop the North Pole.

Theodore Roosevelt and Howard Taft served as presidents under the 46-star flag.  This image shows a political campaign flag used by Teddy Roosevelt and Hiram Johnson during the presidential campaign of 1912.

This photo scanned from a photo album from Gladys Meads shows the old wooden flagpole (at right).  The central campus flagpole was set in a small clump of trees that also contained the Civil War Memorial.  The following images show portions of that memorial.

(image courtesy of Dee Dreeszen)

(click image for enlarged inset showing the memorial) This image from a 1917 postcard shows spectators viewing ISC cadets assembled to drill on central campus.  The flagpole and Civil War Monument can be seen at right.