The 49-Star U.S. Flag: A Design Between Alaska and Hawaii

A forty-nine-star American flag captures a brief transition in the country's history. Alaska had joined the Union, Hawaii's admission was close behind, and the familiar field of stars changed twice. The important detail is that a state's admission and the effective date of its new star were not the same event.

Why Alaska did not change the flag overnight

Alaska became a state on January 3, 1959. The National Archives' statehood lesson provides documents from that transition, including proposed flag designs. Those proposals are evidence of people thinking through a change, not necessarily examples of the design ultimately adopted.

The timing follows a specific rule: under 4 U.S.C. 2, a new star takes effect on the Fourth of July following a state's admission. That explains the gap between Alaska's January admission and the flag's July debut. Statehood and the star change belong on separate lines of a timeline.

The admission proclamation fills in the sequence

The original White House release of Alaska's admission proclamation gives the steps behind January 3, 1959. It refers to Alaska's constitution, adopted in an April 24, 1956 election, and to the congressional act approved July 7, 1958. It then records the required propositions approved in the August 26, 1958 election and the general election held November 25. The acting governor certified the results to the president.

The operative conclusion announces that the congressional procedural requirements had been satisfied and that admission on an equal footing with the other states was accomplished. This is why July 1958 and January 1959 should not be treated as interchangeable statehood dates. The earlier act created a legal path with requirements; the proclamation records the completion of that process.

The dating clause specifies one minute past noon on January 3. The accompanying release of Eisenhower's remarks describes the signing occasion at noon. These records concern the same ceremony while serving different purposes: one is the formal admission document, and the other records the president's spoken welcome. There is no need to turn the one-minute distinction into a historical mystery.

In his remarks, Eisenhower welcomed the forty-ninth state and wished its people prosperity and success. He also congratulated the newly elected representatives and expressed the hope of working together for all forty-nine states. The language treats statehood as participation in a shared political system. The new star was the visible emblem of that change, but the change itself concerned people, representation and government.

How the forty-nine stars were arranged

The Eisenhower Presidential Library's design history records the choice of seven staggered rows, each containing seven stars. Eisenhower issued Executive Order 10798 on January 3, 1959. The library also documents the official raising of the new flag at Fort McHenry on July 4 that year.

Count the rows before relying on a quick glance. Seven times seven gives forty-nine, but the staggered arrangement is also part of identifying this design. Compare a candidate object with a documented reference, rather than assuming every flag with an unusual-looking star field is the transitional flag.

The design decision began before Alaska's admission

The Eisenhower Library's document guide traces consideration of a new flag back to 1953. At that stage, Alaska and Hawaii were potential new states. Planning a way to choose a design did not itself admit either territory. It shows that officials anticipated a practical consequence of statehood before the eventual admissions were completed.

According to the library's account, Eisenhower favored a joint committee in July 1953, drawing on military and civilian expertise. The guide then identifies a renewed selection process in 1958, an October announcement of the officials asked to propose designs, a November discussion and a December recommendation. The chronology places the January 1959 order at the end of a decision process rather than presenting it as a design invented spontaneously at the signing ceremony.

The library also describes public submissions in varied media, including drawings and constructed flags. Those submissions show public interest in the approaching change. They should be distinguished from the formal recommendation and the adopted design. Sending a design to the White House, having it preserved in an archive and having it selected are three separate things.

The January order in its own words and structure

A readable transcription of Executive Order 10798 is available from the American Presidency Project. Its opening states that Alaska had been admitted that day, January 3, 1959. It then cites the statutory rule for adding a star on the next Fourth of July. The order thus connects the new state with the coming design change while expressly preserving the gap between them.

The first section specifies proportions for national flags and union jacks for executive agencies. The flag's hoist is expressed as one unit and its fly as 1.9 units. The union's hoist is given as seven thirteenths of the flag's hoist, and the width of each stripe as one thirteenth. Other proportions and the star positions are referred to the attachment, which the order makes part of its terms. The text and the diagram are therefore complementary evidence.

Those proportions are relative measurements. A fly of 1.9 does not mean every flag is 1.9 feet long; it expresses the fly in relation to a hoist treated as one. If the hoist were five feet, multiplying by 1.9 would give a nine-and-a-half-foot fly. That is an arithmetic illustration of the ratio, not a recommendation for a particular pole or a claim about the dimensions of a surviving object.

The order also lists authorized hoists for executive-agency purchases and treats certain troop and camp colors separately. A list of government procurement sizes should not be simplified into a claim that every flag sold or made during the period had to match one familiar modern retail size. The order has an administrative audience and includes exceptions. A reader describing an individual flag needs evidence about that object, not merely a table copied from the order.

What section 6 settles

Section 6 provides the key date directly: the flag prescribed by the order would become official on July 4, 1959. That makes the January issuance and July effective date explicit in one primary document. There is no need to infer the date solely from a later photograph caption or from the fact that a ceremony occurred at Fort McHenry.

The order's treatment of existing stocks is also explicit. It allows the covered older flags and union jacks to remain in use until unserviceable, subject to the stated exceptions. This practical provision existed at the beginning of the forty-nine-star transition, just as a related provision would appear in the later fifty-star order. The government was changing a design while managing physical inventories, not imagining that every piece of cloth changed at midnight.

Why its official life lasted only one year

Hawaii entered the Union on August 21, 1959, after that year's Fourth of July. Its star therefore belonged to the next July change. Executive Order 10834, reproduced with Title 4 of the U.S. Code, explicitly kept the previous design official until July 4, 1960, when the new design took effect.

That sequence is more precise than saying the forty-nine-star flag was used "in 1959." It remained the official design into 1960. The same order also allowed specified government stocks of older flags to remain in use until unserviceable; the design transition was not a universal instruction to throw away every older flag immediately.

Hawaii's admission involved more than a flag unveiling

Proclamation 3309, dated August 21, 1959, identifies the steps preceding Hawaii's admission. It refers to the act approved March 18, 1959, the required propositions submitted to voters on June 27 and a general election on July 28. It also refers to the governor's certification of the results. The proclamation announces that the procedural requirements for admission had been met.

The welcome and the flag were related but separate

Eisenhower's remarks at the signing welcomed Hawaii as a new member of the Union and emphasized the unusual arrival of two new states in the same year. The accompanying editorial note identifies the Cabinet Room ceremony and records that the new fifty-star flag was unfurled after the documents were signed. It also specifies that the flag would become official on July 4, 1960.

The surprising forty-eight in the U.S. Code

Readers who open the official flag provisions sometimes encounter a puzzling detail: section 1 of Title 4 describes forty-eight stars. Does that mean the official source is saying the present flag should still have forty-eight? No. Reading that sentence alone leaves out the mechanism in the following section and the executive documents published with it. The official Code pages need to be read as a connected set.

Section 2 provides for an additional star when a new state enters the Union, effective on the following Fourth of July. The executive documents supply the later design provisions. The publication also records that Executive Order 10798, issued January 3, 1959, prescribed the earlier design and was superseded by Executive Order 10834. An isolated screenshot of the forty-eight-star sentence therefore cannot establish the design that was in force after Alaska and Hawaii became states.

The 1959 order made room for a practical transition

Executive Order 10834 is often remembered for the design that followed the forty-nine-star flag. It also explains how the government intended to manage the change. Its opening refers to Hawaii's admission, the next-July-Fourth rule and the administration of government property. The order then separates the flag's design from regulations for executive agencies and from general transition provisions.

Part I addresses the design and makes an attached diagram part of the order. Part II addresses executive agencies, including authorized sizes and procurement. Part III identifies the effective transition. The organization is useful because it prevents a reader from treating every sentence as an instruction to every private flag owner. Some provisions describe the national design; others deal specifically with government acquisition and use.

Section 31 names July 4, 1960 as the date the new design becomes official, while retaining the flag prescribed by the January 1959 order until that date. It also allows government procurement of the forthcoming design before the effective date. This separates three activities that are easy to confuse: deciding what the next flag will look like, obtaining flags in preparation, and reaching the date when that design becomes official.

Older stocks were not all ordered into the trash

Section 25 addresses national flags and union jacks already held by executive agencies, together with specified acquisitions under contracts awarded before the order. Subject to the stated exceptions, those stocks were to be used until unserviceable. The provision gives a concrete reason to distinguish a design's official period from the complete disappearance of every earlier flag.

The scope should stay attached to the claim. This was an executive-agency stock provision, not a statement that every private household received an identical government instruction. Nor does it show that a particular old flag in a family collection was once government property. It demonstrates how the order handled the inventory it expressly covered. A family object's provenance must be established separately.

Design, size and physical construction are different records

A design order can tell a researcher about stars, stripes, proportions and authorized dimensions. It does not automatically establish the fabric, sewing technique, attachment hardware or manufacturing date of every flag made to resemble that design. Those are physical-object questions. Keeping them separate is especially important when a historical flag is being described for a collection, exhibition or sale.

For a family flag, begin with what can actually be observed. Record the overall dimensions, the number and arrangement of stars, the stripe count and any readable markings. Photograph a label as it is, including unclear or damaged portions. If a word cannot be read, say so instead of completing it from an expected manufacturer's name. These observations create a record another person can inspect.

Then separate the observations from interpretations. "The flag has forty-nine stars" is an observable statement if all the stars can be counted. "It was made in 1959" is a historical conclusion requiring additional evidence. "It belonged to my grandfather" may be an important family account, but it should be attributed to the person who supplied it and accompanied by whatever dates or documents survive. Keeping those statements distinct preserves the value of each.

No single construction feature should be turned into an authentication shortcut here. This guide does not provide a tested dating key for stitching, fabrics or hardware, and it does not assign market values. A surviving invoice, dated photograph, institutional record or documented ownership history can add evidence. The star count alone cannot do all of that work.

Juneau's July ceremony: the new star in the new state

The forty-nine-star flag also had a local ceremonial life in Alaska. The 2006 National Register nomination for Juneau Memorial Library documents a July 4, 1959 statehood ceremony on the library property. It describes an estimated three thousand spectators, a military honor guard and Governor Bill Egan speaking as the flag was raised. Lowell Thomas served as master of ceremonies. These details come from the nomination's historical account, not from an eyewitness claim by this article.

The nomination records two flagpoles and a commemorative marker at the site. It also distinguishes later additions to the grounds from the features associated with the 1959 event. That distinction matters when interpreting a modern photograph: everything visible at a historic site today need not have been present at the ceremony it commemorates.

The library setting gives the ceremony a civic context. A flag raising at a community institution joins a national change to a place residents know. The event made the new design visible in Alaska, while the January proclamation had already completed admission and the July effective date governed the national flag. The ceremony, admission and design transition all belong in the story, with their separate roles intact.

Read an archival photograph by its date

The Eisenhower Library identifies photograph 72-2933-2 as the unfurling of the new forty-nine-star flag on January 3, 1959. It is a useful example of why captions matter: an unveiling photograph can predate the official change. It should not be captioned as the July 4 Fort McHenry ceremony.

If a forty-nine-star flag survives in your family

Research and preservation work best together. A flag may carry evidence in a label, a seam, an old repair or an accompanying envelope. Before trying to improve its appearance, consider what might be lost. The Smithsonian's Guidelines for the Preservation of Flags and Banners emphasizes that an artifact's needs depend on its materials, history and condition. Its general advice is a starting point, not a treatment plan for every object.

The guidance calls for limiting light exposure, maintaining a stable environment and reducing unnecessary handling. It warns against direct sunlight and localized heat and discusses the risks of damp storage. A flag displayed for years may look familiar enough that changes go unnoticed. Keeping dated observations and photographs can make new damage easier to recognize without subjecting the flag to repeated handling just to inspect it.

For an initial record, note where the flag has been kept and what is known about previous display. Record visible fading, tears, detached elements or old repairs without assigning a cause you cannot establish. A dark mark is an observed mark; calling it smoke damage, a battle stain or evidence of a particular event requires more information. Descriptions become more useful when they distinguish appearance from explanation.

Do not clean away the research question

The Smithsonian cautions that cleaning is not reversible and that flags can contain several materials which respond differently to water, detergents and solvents. It recommends trained professionals for cleaning. That is a strong reason not to wash an unfamiliar historic flag simply to make it more attractive for a photograph. A routine intended for a new display flag may be unsuitable for an older textile with unknown fibers, dyes and repairs.

There is also a difference between conserving a flag and making it appear new. A past repair can be part of the object's history. A missing section may limit what can be inferred about its original size. A treatment chosen only for appearance could obscure evidence. The aim of this research guide is to help preserve an honest record, not to prescribe a restoration.

A family record can be valuable even when it is incomplete

Write down who supplied the story, when they supplied it and whether they saw the events themselves. "My mother remembered it hanging at the school" is more informative than an unattributed assertion that it was a school flag. If there is an old photograph, preserve its original caption and note any later identification separately. A later handwritten label can be useful without being contemporary to the photograph.

Keep related papers associated through a clear inventory rather than attaching them directly to the textile. A purchase receipt, letter or storage label may provide the missing link between a design and a particular date. If the connection is uncertain, say so. Two items found in the same box are associated by storage, but that alone does not prove they were originally used together.

A document exercise: follow one star through the calendar

This original FORTISVEX exercise uses the statutory rule and the two 1959 orders. Draw a timeline from January 1959 through July 1960. Mark Alaska's admission, the July 1959 design change, Hawaii's admission and the July 1960 design change. Use one symbol for admissions and another for flag changes. The visual distinction makes the rule easier to understand than a list in which every date is labeled "new flag."

Ask why Hawaii's star did not join Alaska's on July 4, 1959. The answer follows from the sequence: Hawaii's admission occurred in August, after that July date. Under the rule, its additional star belonged to the next Fourth of July. This is a calendar explanation, not a claim that officials were unable to draw a fifty-star design earlier.

Takeaway: the forty-nine-star flag tells a story of two state admissions and two July deadlines. Its short official period makes the dates memorable, while the surviving documents explain why they differ.

For a present-day display, browse FORTISVEX American flags. Check each listing's design and specifications; this link is not a claim that a historical forty-nine-star reproduction is currently available.