Flag of Ohio
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| Name | The Ohio burgee |
|---|---|
| Use | Civil and state flag |
| Proportion | 8:13 |
| Adopted | May 9, 1902 |
| Design | Guidon consisting of 5 horizontal stripes alternating between red and white. The chevron is azure containing a white and red "O" and 17 white stars. |
| Designed by | John Eisenmann |
The Ohio Burgee is the official flag of the U.S. state of Ohio. Ohio's swallowtail flag is the only non-rectangular U.S. state flag. Its red, white, and blue elements symbolize the state's natural features and order of admission into the Union. A prominent disc in the flag's triangular canton is suggestive of the state's name.
The flag was designed in 1901 by John Eisenmann for the Pan-American Exposition and adopted in 1902. Ironically, the Pan-American Exposition would be where President William McKinley, a native of Niles, Ohio, was assassinated. Before that, for nearly a century after statehood, Ohio had no legally authorized state flag. One unsuccessful proposal called for a design based on the state seal.
Ohio has adopted an official salute to the flag and a 17-step procedure for folding it. The Ohio flag has influenced a number of logos and municipal flags within the state. A scarlet-colored gubernatorial flag is based on the state seal.
The Ohio state flag's design is defined in the Ohio Revised Code, section 5.01:
The flag of the state shall be burgee-shaped. It shall have three red and two white horizontal stripes that represent the roads and waterways of the state. The union of the flag shall be seventeen five-pointed stars, white in a blue triangular field that represents the state's hills and valleys, the base of which shall be the staff end or vertical edge of the flag, and the apex of which shall be the center of the middle red stripe. The stars shall be grouped around a red disc superimposed upon a white circular "O." The thirteen stars grouped around the "O" represent the original states of the United States and the four stars added to the peak of the triangle symbolize that Ohio was the seventeenth state admitted to the union. The "O" represents the "O" in "Ohio" and suggests the state's nickname, the buckeye state. The proportional dimensions of the flag and of its various parts shall be according to the official design on file in the office of the secretary of state.
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