LANCASTER, Ohio, June 25 (DC Times Online) — For travelers visiting state capitols, the 50-star U.S. flag often looks like a familiar backdrop. But the flag Bob Heft said he designed as a 17-year-old in Lancaster, Ohio, later became part of the civic landscape at capitols across the country.
How did a school project become the official flag?
In a StoryCorps oral history, Heft said his history teacher, Stanley Pratt, assigned a project that led him to sew a new flag. Heft said he had watched his mother sew, but had never done it himself. He also said the project came at a time when Alaska and Hawaii had not yet both become states, which meant the country was heading toward a new count of 50 stars.
Heft remembered that Pratt gave him a B- and told him, “If you don’t like the grade, get it accepted in Washington then come back and see me.” Heft later said that challenge pushed him to send the flag to President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Ohio Magazine and Guideposts both describe the next step the same way: Heft’s design was eventually chosen for the nation’s new flag after Hawaii became the 50th state. StoryCorps says Heft later got a call inviting him to Washington for a ceremony, and that Pratt changed the grade to an A.
What changed in the flag design?
The 50-star flag was tied to the country’s expansion. Alaska became a state in January 1959, which created a short-lived 49-star flag. Hawaii joined in August 1959, making a 50-star design necessary.
According to Ohio Magazine, the 50-star flag became the official U.S. flag on July 4, 1960. That is the version still used today.
Did Heft really get his flag flown around the country?
Heft’s own account, quoted in Fox News and other retellings, says he made and flew the first 50-star flag in the United States and that it was first flown on March 7, 1959. The sources provided here do not include independent archival proof of that first-flight claim, but they do show that Heft kept pressing the case for his design.
Fox News reports that from 1960 to 1962, Heft got his flag flown over at least 40 state capitol buildings, including those in New York, California, Massachusetts, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, Iowa, Utah, Nebraska and Alaska. The same reporting quotes Texas Gov. Price Daniel as saying the flag flew for five hours over the Texas State Capitol in Austin on Oct. 5, 1960, and that “it would have been displayed all day except for a rain and high wind which started about 12 p.m.”
Fox News also quoted Ohio Gov. Michael DiSalle as writing that he was “pleased to verify your story that yours was the first 50-star flag displayed in Ohio on Ohio property.”
Why does this matter for travelers today?
If you tour state capitols, the 50-star flag is more than decoration. It is part of the history visible on the buildings many travelers visit for architecture, tours and civic landmarks. Heft’s story links a high school project in Ohio to the flags that later flew over those buildings in state after state.
It is also a reminder that national symbols can come from unexpected places. In Heft’s telling, a classroom assignment, a B- grade and a challenge from a teacher helped shape the flag that would become the country’s standard banner.
