Las Vegas Weekly

Ask Dead Elvis: State flag

I am not the biggest fan of the state flag—too drab. What’s the story behind it?

Our flag may not be the most exciting, but it’s certainly an improvement over some of our earlier state flags—like the one from 1905, which just had a blue backdrop and “NEVADA” in all caps centered in the middle and the words “Silver” and “Gold” with some stars framing it from the top and bottom.

Back in 1926, the governor’s office held a statewide contest for a new state flag. Louis Schellbach III was chosen as the winner. The design was a cobalt blue background with an upper-left five-pointed silver star between two sprays of sagebrush crossed to form a half-wreath and a golden scroll with the words, in black letters, “Battle Born” and “Nevada” beneath that in gold letters. It was adopted by the state on March 26, 1929, and was modified in 1991 with the state name in a semi-circular fashion beneath the star and above the sagebrush sprays.

Okay, not such an exciting story—if only the flag really had been battle-born.

Thankyouverymuch.

E-mail your questions to askdeadelvis@lasvegasweekly.com