U.S. Flag Display at North School Park
Flags have been an integral part of North School Park since it’s construction in 1991. The amphitheater, in the center of the Park, is ringed with flag poles—a generous donation from the Arlington Heights Lions Club. In response to the patriotic fervor following the September 2001 terrorist attacks, the Arlington Heights Park District chose to install a display of historic American flags. Grouped within the Park and in front of the Administration Center, 410 N. Arlington Heights Road, these flags remind us of our precious freedom and the connection we cherish as 50 united states.
Special thanks to our Parks Department staff who researched the flags, purchased flags and poles, designed flag holders and lighting, installed the display and arranged for proper signage and the Arlington Heights Park Foundation for their generous support.
History of our Flag
Flags have been important in American history since the first settlers arrived from Europe. Until Congress adopted the stars and stripes design on June 14, 1777, there was little conformity. The first US flags retained British symbols in case of a reconciliation with the mother country. Although legend has Betsy Ross designing the first flag, historians believe it was actually congressman Francis Hopkinson, based on journals of the Continental Congress from whom he attempted to receive payment for his design: “ Would not a quarter cask of the public wine be a reasonable and proper reward for my labors?” Regardless of the exact origin of our flags’ designs, it is the Arlington Heights Park District’s intent to honor our patriotic pride with this display of historic and evolutionary United States flags.
Honoring the Flag
A surge of patriotism during the early days of the Civil War led to the recorded observance of Flag Day on June 14, 1861. Congress, in 1949, made June 14 a national day of legal observance. The first pledge of allegiance to the flag was written in a children’s publication Youth’s Companion, September 8, 1892, in an effort to revive patriotism in America’s children. A law was passed in the Washington state legislature instructing school directors to hold flag exercises every week at which time students would recite the pledge. The wording was revised twice by Congressional committees until Congress adopted our current version on June 14, 1954:
I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
