WYOMING – The iconic state flag of Wyoming turns 100 this year. Before 1917—for three decades, the state had no flag to fly. A $20 contest in 1916 fixed that. The rest is history.
1) The flag designer was 23-year-old Verna Keays of Buffalo, Wyo. In 1916, her father told her about the statewide contest to design the state’s first-ever flag. The winning entry would be nominated for the official flag of the state and the artist would be paid $20.
Keays had just returned to Wyoming after studying at the Art Institute of Chicago where she graduated with honors. She reportedly blew off the assignment for weeks until she awoke one morning with the entire design “complete in her head.”
2) Keays’ mockup was chosen from 37 entries. On January 31, 1917, Governor Robert D. Carey signed the state flag bill into law and the bison flag was officially adopted.
3) The design has meaning. Using the same colors in the US flag, the red in the border of the Wyoming flag is a symbol of the Native Americans who called Wyoming home before the settlers arrived, and the blood given by pioneers to claim the land. The white symbolizes Wyoming’s purity and uprightness. The blue represents Wyoming’s sky and mountains, fidelity and justice.
4) The bison represents local fauna, while the seal at its heart symbolizes the custom of branding livestock.
5) By the way, the seal was adopted by the Second Legislature in the year Keays was born: 1893.
6) Incidentally, Keays’ original design had the bison facing away from the flagpole—symbolizing the freedom the animal once enjoyed roaming the Wyoming great plains. The design was later changed to have the bison facing the flagpole for a more balanced look, and, perhaps, to signify bison usually stand facing the wind.
