LANCASTER, Ohio, June 25 (DC Times Online) — Bob Heft was 17 when he turned a high school history assignment into one of the best-known symbols in the United States.
Heft, who grew up in Lancaster, Ohio, said he designed the 50-star U.S. flag in 1958, before the design was officially adopted. His goal was simple: make a flag that would fit the country after Hawaii became the 50th state.
For travelers, the story has an interesting side note. Heft later said his handmade flag was displayed at state capitols and other public sites across the country, turning government buildings from Texas to Alaska into stops along the flag’s national journey.
How did a class project become the official flag?
Heft told StoryCorps that his history teacher, Stanley Pratt, assigned a project on the flag. Heft said he decided to design a new one with 50 stars, even though the country did not yet have 50 states.
In that oral history, Heft said he sewed the flag himself and took it to school. He said Pratt first gave him a B- and told him, “If you don’t like the grade, get it accepted in Washington then come back and see me.”
Heft’s account says he did just that. He said he sent the flag to President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1959 and asked him to adopt it for the nation’s new flag.
What happened next?
According to Heft’s recollection in StoryCorps and later retellings, Eisenhower called him to Washington for a ceremony after the design was chosen. Heft said Pratt later changed the grade to an A.
Historical accounts cited by Ohio Magazine say the 50-star flag became the official U.S. flag on July 4, 1960, after Hawaii became a state in August 1959.
The records summarized in the available reporting also say White House chief of staff Wilton B. Persons sent Heft a thank-you letter. In Heft’s correspondence, he later said he had made and flown the first 50-star flag in the United States and that it was first flown on March 7, 1959.
Where was the flag flown?
Heft later said his flag was flown over many public buildings, including state capitols. A Fox News report said it flew over at least 40 state capitol buildings from 1960 to 1962, including sites in New York, California, Massachusetts, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, Iowa, Utah, Nebraska and Alaska.
One of the clearest examples in the reporting came from Texas. Fox News quoted Gov. Price Daniel as saying the flag was flown over the Texas state capitol in Austin for five hours on Oct. 5, 1960, and would have stayed up all day except for rain and high wind.
Ohio also appears in the paper trail. Fox News quoted Gov. Michael DiSalle as writing that he was “pleased to verify your story that yours was the first 50-star flag displayed in Ohio on Ohio property.”
Why does this story still matter?
The flag’s history is partly about design, but it is also about travel and public display. Heft’s flag moved from a classroom in Ohio to Washington, then to state capitols and other government sites across the country. That made the flag not just a national symbol, but a piece of public history seen in many places by everyday visitors.
For people planning trips that include state capitols, the story adds context to buildings that are often visited for architecture, tours, and civic history. In Heft’s telling, those same places helped give the 50-star flag its early public life before it became the country’s official banner.
