Oregon

Oregon
Country	United States
Obverse side of the flag of Oregon
Adopted	26 February 1925
Score in 2001 NAVA survey	3.30/10 (62nd of 72)
Reverse side of the flag of Oregon
Wikipedia article
Flags of the World article

The flag of Oregon is a navy blue field with lettering and symbols in gold, representing the state colors of Oregon. On the obverse, the legend STATE OF OREGON is written above the escutcheon from the Oregon state seal. The shield is surrounded by 33 stars, representing Oregon's admission to the Union as the 33rd state. Below the shield is written 1859, the year in which Oregon became a state.

On the reverse of the flag is a depiction, also in gold, of a beaver, the state animal of Oregon. Oregon has the only U.S. state flag with differing symbolism on two sides.

For dress or parade usage, the flag may feature a gold fringe. For standard usage, no fringe is required. The ratio of the flag's width to length is 3:5.

The current flag design became official on February 26, 1925. Oregon's flag is the last remaining state flag in the U.S. in which the obverse and reverse sides have different designs. Paraguay is the only country that still has a two-sided flag. Two-sided flags were previously more common, but have fallen out of favor due to inherently higher manufacturing costs relative to single-design flags.

Proposals for a New Flag of Oregon

Shown below are various designs that have been proposed for a new flag of Oregon.

Proposals considered in The Oregonian poll, 2009

In December 2008–January 2009, Oregon newspaper The Oregonian held a contest to collect proposed new Oregon state flags. The ten finalists are shown below.

OR Flag Proposal "Gerald H. Black"

OR Flag Proposal "Eddy Lyons"

OR Flag Proposal "Douglas Lynch"

OR Flag Proposal "Jaymes Walker"

OR Flag Proposal "John Mothershead"

OR Flag Proposal "T.J. Bozner"

OR Flag Proposal "Randall Gray"

OR Flag Proposal "Lorraine Bushek"

OR Flag Proposal "Karen L. Azinger"

OR Flag Proposal "Thomas Lincoln"

Oregon flag proposal winner, Randall Gray

Other proposals

OR Flag Proposal "Randall Gray" [edited]

OR Flag Proposal "RubberDuck3y6" [edited]

OR Flag Proposal "ironchefshark 1"

OR Flag Proposal "ironchefshark 2"

OR Flag Proposal "Matthew Norquist" (website)

OR Flag Proposal "Dearnen"

OR Flag Proposal "Lord Grattan"

OR Proposed Flag "xphile2868"

OR Proposed Flag "Monkeyflung"

OR Flag Proposal "Dutchie"

OR Flag Proposal "Andrew Rogers"

OR Flag Proposal "Rogers and Truncale #1"

OR Flag Proposal "Rogers and Truncale #2"

OR Flag Proposal "Brian Truncale #1"

OR Flag Proposal "Brian Truncale #2"

OR Flag Proposal "Tibbetts"

OR Flag Proposal "Greg Jones 1"

OR Flag Proposal "Greg Jones 2"

OR Flag Proposal "Greg Jones 3"

OR Flag Proposal "AlternateUniverseDesigns"

Oregon State Flag Proposal Designed By AlternatUniverseDesigns Edited By: Stephen Richard Barlow 18 AuG 2014

OR Flag Proposal "lunarmotion 1"

OR Flag Proposal "lunarmotion 2"

OR Flag Proposal "lunarmotion 3"

OR Flag Proposal "BigRed618"

Oregon State Flag Proposal No. 5 Designed By: Stephen Richard Barlow 24 OCT 2014 at 1136hrs cst

Oregon State Flag Proposal No. 4 Designed By: Stephen Richard Barlow 23 OCT 2014 at 1738hrs cst

Oregon State Flag Simplistic Proposal. The red triangle on the left represents the hills of Oregon. The state animal is a beaver. By Ed Mitchell. 2013.

Oregon State Flag Proposal No. 9 Designed By: Stephen Richard Barlow 24 MAY 2015 at 0838 HRS CST.

Oregon flag proposal 1 by Hans. Sep 2015. (details & more versions)

Oregon flag proposal 5 by Hans. Jan 2017. (details & more versions)

Oregon flag proposal 6 by Hans. Oct 2020. (details)

OR flag proposal by 5thEye

Oregon state flag proposal by James Dignan, January 2015

Heavy redraw of the beaver from the logo of Parks Canada. Tail features all the small stars from the shield. Design by Parks Canada & Rotten Ali.

Oregon state flag proposed by Ken Morton. A simple cropping of the reverse of Oregon's current flag; with a hat tip to Oregon's neighbor, California.

Added by SimplisticFlags. January 2019. (details)

Oregon - Green version. Posted by Ken Morton

The beaver totem is on the reverse side of the current flag. On the new flag it is front and center, with the addition of the star in the “northwest” corner of the flag to represent the state’s position on the map of the United States. Blue and gold are the official state colors. Posted by Preston Knapp [1]

Proposal for a flag for Oregon. Give the beaver solid ground to stand on. By Qaz Dec 2019 (details)

Part of series of designs for state flags, all in blue and white. (Posted by Ken Morton)

Blue and yellow from current flag, at hoist to symbolize the Pacific coastline. Beaver from current flag on a field of green to symbolize state's forests.

As previous, but with white stripe added to represent Mt Hood and the state's snow-covered peaks.

More symmetrical variation on previous design.

As above, with a more nautical teal at the hoist

Contest to find the best redesign. Voted on 433 designs.

Flag of Oregon proposal. This flag has the colors of the Pacific Northwest (blue, white, and green) and the beaver in the blue field. Also, the texture on the flag reflect the Cascadian mountains looking out to the Pacific Ocean. By Ceasingmango426. August 2020.

Green White and Blue are colors that represent the Pacific Northwest. The Douglas Fir tree is a symbol of the state and grows all over the state

Combinded flag of Cascadia and Front/Back Symbols of Current flag

I like the idea of having a 2-sided flag, I just think that we should change it so that the seal is instead a yellow duck to represent the University of Oregon, as Oregon State's mascot is a beaver. Now, the Turf War between Oregon and Oregon State can be represented on the state flag and be called the "Battle For The Flag." Go Ducks! Go Beavers! And on the day of the football game, for one day only, the state flag would be ONLY the mascot of the team that won the previous year’s football game between Oregon and Oregon State. Battle for the Flag is a way better name than Turf War.

Oregon Flag Proposal- first made in October 2020 by User:WesleyMcPaper

Oregonian redesign by Laqueesha. Author's note: "The flag roughly evokes what you'd see if you were to see if when looking at a north-oriented satellite image of Oregon. Blue is the Pacific Ocean, green is the lush part of the state, and the tan/orange is the eastern part of the state, which is more arid. I guess white can symbolize snow-capped mountains but I really just put it there to make the colors easier to distinguish."

Oregon flag, corner. "O" for Oregon, star for one of the 50 U.S. states, green for forests.

Oregon flag, center. "O" for Oregon, star for one of the 50 U.S. states, green for forests.

Oregon flag, golden ratio. "O" for Oregon, star for one of the 50 U.S. states, green for forests.

The beavertail represents the state mammal; its pattern evoking the status of being the 33rd state in the Union. The green and blue represents the vegetation and sea respectively.

The winged beaver represents the states motto, Alis volat propriis.