The Wichita Kansas Flag is a great way to show pride in our city. From shirts and hoodies to cell phone cases and coffee mugs, the design has become quite popular. It also has an interesting history behind it!
The city of Wichita was formally founded on July 21st, 1870. Despite its humble beginnings as a single trading post, it withstood the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl, and the ups and downs in the oil industry. Soon after, World War II triggered a boom in the aircraft industry, and many aviation factories and testing centers began to move into town.
Wichita was beginning to make a name for itself. It had already climbed from the nickname of “Cowtown” to “The Aircraft Capital of the World,”, but word-of-mouth representation and nicknames weren’t enough for the city. The leaders of the city wanted to craft a visual symbol — a flag — for the city to rally behind.
Wichita’s Mayor at the time was a man named T. Walker Weaver, and he and his councilmen decided the best way to create a flag representing a city would be to have the citizens themselves design it!
So, a competition ensued. The city offered a grand prize of $40 (roughly $700 in 2019), and over a hundred submissions poured in. A panel of artists meticulously judged each submission, eventually deciding on a design sent in by a man named Cecil McAlister.
Cecil McAlister’s design represented what the city of Wichita meant to him — freedom, happiness, contentment, and home. The blue sun in the center of the flag is supposed to be representative of happiness and contentment while the Native American symbol for permanent home is stitched on top of the blue sun. The rays of alternating red and white light radiation from the sun in the center is supposed to represent, “the path of freedom to come and go as one pleases”.
On June 14th, 1937, Cecil McAlister was announced as the winner by Mayor T. Walker Weaver, and his prize was awarded to him. After this, the Mayor recruited a seamstress named Mary J. Harper, the Betsy Ross of Wichita, to create the first Wichita flags.
Mary spent days sewing together the intricate designs and stitching of the flags. Upon completion, she had created six Wichita flags to give to the city. Finally, on July 23rd, 1937, Wichita’s first flag was raised up the pole of city hall.
Although the Wichita flag is over 80 years old, it has only become a popular cultural symbol in recent years. There was a period of renaissance for the Wichita flag, and the “Flag Fever” it created is still going on strong!
The flag can be seen around the city in places ranging from T- shirts to tattoos to stickers to murals, mugs, notebooks, and anywhere else that the proud citizens of Wichita can think of placing it.
If you are interested in scoring some Wichita gear for yourself or as a gift, please check out our online store!
Thanks for giving us some of the histories behind Wichita’s flag, Alexa.
There are many flags throughout the U.S., Canada and other parts of the world and many have no idea how they came to be or how they were influenced by different cultures.
I have to say that it’s true of my own country as well, (me included). There is just so much we don’t know but should. It would give us all a better understanding of who we live with and how our different countries grew and came to be what they are today.
I hope you will be writing more about other flags in your State and around your country. I find it quite interesting.
Speaking of interest, how come some of the other flags/symbols are yellow with black sun and what do some of the other symbols represent?
Wayne
Hi Wayne, you are very welcome! I am glad you found it interesting. The yellow and black ones are a mixture of the Wichita flag along with the school colors from Wichita State University. I am a big WSU fan!
The website owners (David and his daughter, Madison) like all things Wichita for their site even though Madi attends K-State (Go Wildcats!) and Madi draws designs with different niches on them to appeal to different Wichita fans.
Madi sells art on the side in addition to being a full time student at K-State (Biochem and Entomology).
She draws/designs shirts and stuff for her dad at ICT Threads but she is a great original artist also and has her own “real non-flag art” page if you want to see her work.
https://www.facebook.com/leiererart/
Thanks for the questions Wayne and I hope to hear back from you!
Alexa
The Wichita Kansas Flag is a piece of heartwarming information wherein a small town has unity and effort to represent their place with pride by selling some souvenirs in spreading their identity not only in their place but in the entire country. The design which was around since 1937 has withstood the test of time and is now spreading in different forms putting their beloved flags on coffee mugs, hoodies, and what have you.
Thanks to the guy named Cecil. A flag is a rallying point and a major symbol of a community or nation. It must be given due honor just like the town of Wichita has been doing – famously known as the ‘Cowtown’, inspiring piece of information.
Wow, thanks gr8megawinner. I’m glad you liked the post!
Take care!
Thanks for the background on the Wichita, Kansas flag, this was news to me. I have been to Wichita several times over the years for business, and have some good partners there that I worked with for a number of projects. It is a nice city and the people are nice too. That is reflected in their flag design I think.
Freedom, happiness, contentment, and home are what we all strive for in life and his capturing of those elements in the design makes it a clear winner for me. The $40 prize that he was awarded is not bad either, that was quite a bit of money back in those days.
The next time I get through the city I will definitely pick up a coffee cup with the flag on it. Wichita is a place worth visiting and having a keepsake from too. Thanks for the history lesson, and I enjoyed reading about the Wichita flag. I urge anyone who is closeby to take the time and see the place for themselves, they will enjoy it too.
Thanks Dave! We are glad you like the post and our city!
Take care!
Thank you for the historical information regarding Wichita’s flag. I have traveled to Wichita several years ago as part of my summer vacation and I could feel that sense of happiness and home that is represented in the flag. I have never met such friendly people before.
I found it interesting that even back then, they were willing to involve the regular individuals to help represent.
Awww, I’m so glad you felt so comfortable here! I agree there are a lot of friendly people here and we are glad that was your experience in Wichita.
Have a great week!