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Tallahassee, Florida (U.S.)

Leon County

image located by Valentin Poposki, 3 October 2019
Source: http://www.talgov.com/employment/accord-cityhistory.aspx

Current Flag
Alternative flag
Third flag
Second flag
First flag

See also:

Current Flag

The current flag is a pink-black-blue diagrammatic star on a white field, a logo flag that was adopted in 2002. Further information unknown. This appears to be Tallahassee's fourth flag. Others are described below.
Source for the text is the story by Gerald Ensley published in 2017.
Valentin Poposki, 3 October 2019

Third flag

image located by Valentin Poposki, 3 October 2019
Source: http://www.talgov.com/employment/accord-cityhistory.aspx

The third flag was adopted in 1986 and was designed by a city employee and a local public relation firm, urging by the Mayor Jack McLean.
Valentin Poposki, 3 October 2019

Second flag

image located by Valentin Poposki, 3 October 2019
Source: http://www.talgov.com/employment/accord-cityhistory.aspx

This flag is also shown in American City Flags, Raven 9-10 (2002-2003).

ourtesy of the North American Vexillological Association, which retains copyright. Image(s) from American City Flags by permission of David B. Martucci.

Design

Tallahassee’s flag is a white saltire on a dark blue field, with the city seal in blue on a gold background overlaying the center. On a field of 4 by 7 units, the seal is about 2 units in diameter. Immediately within the seal’s outer edge is a narrow white ring, into which emanate some 80 tiny black triangles, suggesting the cut edge of a seal. Within the white ring is a gold ring, the inner edge of which is formed by a narrow black ring. Curved over the top of the gold ring is CITY of TALLAHASSEE, and counterclockwise below is FLORIDA, all in black and an Arial-type font. The dome of the capitol appears in the center of the seal, its lower portion white detailed in black and its upper portion black detailed in white. A small United States flag flies atop the dome, blowing toward the hoist. Clouds on either side of the dome are gold edged in black.
John M. Purcell, American City Flags, Raven 9-10, 2002-2003

Symbolism

The capitol dome on the seal represents Tallahassee’s status as the capital of Florida. No particular symbolism is given for the colors or saltire, although the flag has the same basic design as the Florida state flag, with different colors. In the choice of colors for the Tallahassee flag, the designer, whose name is of Scottish origin, may have been influenced by the flag of Scotland, a white saltire on blue.
John M. Purcell, American City Flags, Raven 9-10, 2002-2003

Selection

At the urging of Mrs. Florence R. S. Phillips, one-time secretary of the Tallahassee Booster Club (a forerunner of the chamber of commerce), and City Engineer Miller Walston, the city commission held a contest for a new city flag sometime in 1916.
Flag adopted: 1957 (official).
John M. Purcell, American City Flags, Raven 9-10, 2002-2003

Designer

Miss Abernathy, an art teacher at Florida State College for Women.
John M. Purcell, American City Flags, Raven 9-10, 2002-2003

More about the Flag

2:3 image(s) by permission of David B. Martucci
image(s) from American City Flags, Raven 9-10 (2002-2003), courtesy of the North American Vexillological Association, which retains copyright.

From its creation, the flag was apparently considered the city flag, even though not officially adopted, since an ordinance existed prohibiting its use for advertising or commercial purposes without the approval of the city commission. The original flag had the seal in blue on white. It was evidently changed to gold about the time of its official adoption in 1957. According to a number of references, the flag appeared for years on city postcards with an account of its history.
John M. Purcell, American City Flags, Raven 9-10, 2002-2003

The NAVA image shown in American City Flags (Purcell, 2003) is the blue saltire flag. The seal as shown on the flag (with state Capitol dome) is not the one used by the city government (www.talgov.com/mayor/images/cot-seal2.gif), which shows a large tree instead (image archived here).
António Martins-Tuválkin, 3 June 2008

First flag

image located by Valentin Poposki, 3 October 2019
Source: http://www.talgov.com/employment/accord-cityhistory.aspx

The first flag was adopted in 1916, designed by Inez Abernathy, in that time head of the Art Department of the Florida State College for Women (today's Florida State University). The moving force for adopting the first city flag was Florence Phillips - in 1916 a secretary of the Tallahassee Boosters Club (the forerunner of today's Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce).
Valentin Poposki, 3 October 2019

image located by Valentin Poposki, 13 December 2011

An image of the first flag of the City of Tallahassee, Florida is shown on a postcard presented in a book Postcard History Series - Tallahassee" from Lynn M. Homan and Thomas Reilly. It can be seen in Google Books: books.google.com, on page 9. Unfortunately, the picture is black and white. The only information is that the flag was adopted in 1915.
Valentin Poposki, 13 March 2010

According to this article by the Tallahassee Democrat, Tallahassee offered $25 in gold for the winning entry in a municipal flag design which concluded on March 1, 1916. Entries were sent to Mrs. S. D. Chittenden, who was chairman of the municipal flag committee. Here on this edition by the Tampa Tribune, it describes the design chosen for the municipal flag, with the two white bars symbolizing the Dixie Highway and the Old Spanish Trail, which passed through the city.
Daniel Rentería, 23 September 2023