Unfurling the History of the Indiana State Flag

Indiana adopted its state flag in 1917. It was designed by Paul Hadley of Mooresville, Indiana; he won a flag design contest sponsored by the DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution) for Indiana’s 100th anniversary of statehood in 1916. On a field of blue, the Indiana State flag displays a torch, colored gold or buff, surrounded by an outer circle of thirteen stars and an inner circle of five stars. The flaming torch on the Indiana state flag stands for “liberty and enlightenment”. The six rays radiating from the torch are meant to symbolize the expansive nature of those two concepts. The thirteen stars of the outer circle represent the thirteen original colonies of the US. The five stars of the inner circle represent the next five states admitted to the Union. The largest star on the Indiana State Flag, positioned at the top of the torch and below the state name, represents Indiana, the nineteenth state.