49 Star U.S. Flag, First to Officially Fly in Ft. McHenry, MD 1959.
This small, cotton Stars and Stripes flag of only 34" x 57" was one of the first official United States 49-star flag ever raised. The flag was first raised at Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine on Independence Day, 1959, to celebrate Alaska's admission to the Union. U.S. Secretary of the Interior, Fred A. Seaton, who served as President Eisenhower's special representative at the ceremony, hoisted the flag.

The Unites States is one of the few countries that symbolically represent its internal political sub-divisions on its flag. Correspondingly, the raising of a new star design to herald the admission of a new state has been observed since the beginning of the republic.

On this particular 49 star flag the stripes were sewn but the blue canton (the star-field) is printed, leaving space for the seven staggered rows of seven stars on the white background material. This pattern was a radical departure from the rigid six rows of eight stars that had served the nation since 1912.

The committee in charge of the ceremonies later presented the inaugural 49 star flag to lifelong Baltimore residents, Mr. and Mrs. John A. Pentz. Mr. Pentz, a Baltimore native, was a lawyer as well as a professor of poetry and grammar at Baltimore City College. Later, Mr. and Mrs. Pentz donated the flag to the Star Spangled Banner Flag House & Museum.

Exhibition History:
First Presidio Exhibit
(ZFC0072)
49-star United States Flag, the first to fly over fort McHenry

Second Presidio Exhibit, 2003 - Gallery VI
(ZFC0072)
49-Star United States Flag, First to Fly Over Fort McHenry

Publication History:
Madaus, Howard M., Dr, Whitney Smith, The American Flag: Two Centuries of Concord and Conflict. Santa Cruz: VZ Publications, 2006, p. 132.

Provenance:
• Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Committee for the First Official Raising of the 49 Star Flag of the United States at Fort McHenry National Monumant and Historic Shrine, 1959.
• Acquired by Committee member Joseph P. Crone, Verona, NJ, 1959.
• Gifted to Mr. & Mrs. John A. Pentz, Baltimore, MD, 1959.
• Gifted to the Star Spangled Banner Flag House & Museum, until 1996.
• Acquired by the Zaricor Flag Collection from the Star-Spangled Banner Flag House Collection of Baltimore, MD. in 1996.


ZFC Significant Flag
Item is Framed

Sources:


Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine,9 October 2011, from:
http://www.nps.gov/fomc/index.htm

Rasmussen, Frederick N. July 26, 2002, John Angelo Pentz, 99, taught poetry, grammar at City College, The Baltimore Sun, 6 October 2011, from:
http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2002-07-26/news/0207260085_1_pentz-hammerman-city-college

Star-Spangled Banner Flag House, 6 October 2011, from: http://www.flaghouse.org/index.php/flag/index_new/

Rasmussen, Frederick N., July 2, 2010, A half-century ago, new 50-star American flag debuted in Baltimore, The Baltimore Sun, 6 October 2011, from:
http://starspangled200.org/News/Documents/070210_Baltimore%20Sun_FOMC.pdf

The Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum, "Design of the 49 & 50 Satr Flags", 2 October 2012, from: http://www.eisenhower.archives.gov/research/online_documents/flag.html

United States. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, 1959, First Raising of the 49 star Flag July 4, 1959, Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine, Baltimore, Maryland, courtesy of the Evelyn Hill Corporation.

Image Credits:
Zaricor Flag Collection

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