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Jacksonville, Florida (U.S.)

image by Michael Smuda, 21 February 2002

Description of the flag

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Description of the Flag

The flag is a rectangle, probably 2:3 divided horizontally white over red-orange (it's Florida, they have to use orange). The white band contains the rays of a rising sun in a golden yellow. Centered on the white and in front of the rays is a reddish brown horseman. Centered in the red-orange band is a golden yellow map of the city with the words "CITY OF JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA" in golden yellow block letters arched under it.
Michael Smuda, 21 February 2001

The city's website confirms that the town was named after Andrew Jackson, who was (among other things) the first U.S. military governor of the Florida territory. I was in Jacksonville for a conference last summer and noticed the flag flying here and there. I can also add that the image on the flag mirrors a statue of Jackson near the downtown Jacksonville Landing shopping/entertainment area. This statue, in turn, looks a lot like (maybe is a copy of?) the statue of Andrew Jackson in Lafayette Park, across the street from the White House in Washington, D.C. Unfortunately, I don't know the order in which ... statue was made/statue was copied/city seal was adopted/city flag was adopted.

Some sources:
http://www.kestan.com/travel/dc/monument/ (photo of DC statue)
http://www.coj.net (Jacksonville city website)
http://www.jacksonvillelanding.com (there may be an image of the statue on the site's 'virtual tour')

Andrew S Rogers, 7 March 2002

The City of Jacksonville website further states:

The Seal and Logo of the City of Jacksonville
On October 1, 1968, the government of the City of Jacksonville and the government of Duval County were replaced with a new government called the Consolidated City of Jacksonville. On that same day, Jacksonville's new City Council passed an ordinance declaring the official seal of the former government of the City of Jacksonville to be the official seal of the new consolidated city. The seal features an equestrian statue of Andrew Jackson, the man for whom Jacksonville was named. The statue depicted stands in Washington, D.C. and a duplicate now stands in downtown Jacksonville.

The City of Jacksonville's Official Flag
In 1914, at the beginning of World War I, Jacksonville's City Council decided the city needed an official flag, and proceeded to adopt one. The Florida Times-Union newspaper described the official standard as consisting "of the word Jacksonville in a script across the field of the flag, a brilliant red poinsettia rising above this scrip and on the field below gates suggesting the Florida gateway and the city seal."

Sixty-one years later, in 1975, City Councilman Johnny Sanders introduced a resolution authorizing a public competition to create a new city flag. The contest would be held in conjunction with that year's Bold CityFest, an annual celebration of the October 1, 1968 consolidation of the previous city and county governments. The Bold CityFest Committee and the Jacksonville Chapter of the American Institute of Architects organized the event, setting a November 14 deadline. Among the competition rules was: "No specific elements will be required in the design. Possible themes...may include the City seal, the St. Johns River, consolidated government, or Andrew Jackson." The contest elicited 148 entries. The AIA conducted preliminary judging and submitted five designs as semifinalists to a judging committee composed of four City Council members, the Area Planning Board director, the Information Services (Public Information) Division chief, and Mayor Hans Tanzler.

Don Bozeman, a Seaboard Coastline Railroad employee, submitted the winning entry, earning a $500 check from the Bold CityFest Committee. The City Council adopted the design as the official city flag on February 24, 1976. A news release described the new flag: "In the three-color flag design, the upper half has an equestrian statue of Andrew Jackson silhouetted in brown over a golden sunburst. The lower half is solid orange, with a silhouette outline of Duval County and the words 'City of Jacksonville, Florida,' in gold."

City Ordinance Code 130.102 addresses the city flag: "The official flag of the city shall be a rectangle having the dimensions in the ratio one of (hoist) to one and one-half (fly), divided horizontally into two equal panels: The upper panel has a rampant equestrian statue of Andrew Jackson in silhouette over sunburst; the lower panel has a silhouette of Duval County and the words CITY OF JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA in a recumbent concave arc thereunder, all on a solid field. The rays of the sunburst, silhouette of Duval County and the words CITY OF JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA are gold; the equestrian statue of Andrew Jackson is dark brown, the upper panel background is white and the lower panel field is orange."

On Consolidation Day (October 1) 1976, Mayor Tanzler raised the new flag in front of the City Hall on Bay Street. Today, Jacksonville's banner flies on flagpoles at a number of city government buildings.

Andrew Grayot, 13 August 2004