Missouri bicentennial: Cape Girardeau's central role in the state flag

This is the 14th in a series of articles with Kellerman Foundation for Historic Preservation board chairman Frank Nickell, an emeritus faculty member of Southeast Missouri State University, commenting on Show Me State history on the 200th anniversary of Missouri being received as America's 24th state in 1821.

Marie Watkins Oliver of Cape Girardeau was a determined and indefatigable woman, who, after becoming a regent of the Daughters of the American Revolution in the early 20th century, made it a mission to ensure Missouri had a state flag.

Missouri came into the Union as America's 24th state in 1821, "with a coat of arms and a shield with two grizzly bears on it, but no flag," Nickell said.

Not every state originally had a flag.

Many of them, the venerable historian informed, did not.

"The great wave for the adoption of flags for individual states happened between 1907 and 1920," Nickell said, suggesting Oliver deserves at least part of the credit.

Germination of an idea

Oliver had relatives serving in the State House and Senate in Jefferson City during the early 1900s.

Following her elevation to DAR regent, she traveled to the organization's Washington, D.C. headquarters in 1908 and witnessed a display showing the states that had created state banners.

Missouri had been a state for nearly a century by the time Oliver traveled to the nation's capital and the trip became a transformative moment for the Cape Girardeau native.

Getting to work

Oliver, as head of a DAR committee looking into a state flag, hired art instructor Mary Kochitzky from the Southeast Missouri State Normal School (later Southeast Missouri State University) and together they sketched out a design and presented it to the Missouri Senate in March 1909.

There was great difficulty getting the Oliver design approved.

A competing flag idea, by Dr. N.R. Holcomb, was introduced as well.

"Marie Oliver was aghast at the Holcomb flag," said Nickell, believing it too closely resembled the U.S. flag and was devoid of much symbolism special to Missouri.

Several attempts were made by the DAR to get Oliver's design past the state legislature and the outcome of each effort was the same.

The tricolor design with red, white and blue stripes, with a passing resemblance to the Netherlands flag, and the State of Missouri seal in the middle encircled by 24 stars, would pass the state Senate but would fail in the House.

Tragedy and passage

In 1911, the state capitol building in Jefferson City burned -- and with it went Oliver's flag design both on paper and on cotton cloth.

"It was back to square one," Nickell said.

Kochitzky had left Cape Girardeau by that time, so Oliver employed another local artist, S.D. MacFarland, to sew a flag out of silk.

It took nearly four years before the bill for the "Oliver flag" finally passed the Missouri Legislature.

On March 22, 1913, Gov. Elliot Major signed the bill into law, and Oliver's banner became the official state flag of Missouri.

Other items of note

• Grizzlies. In early drawings of the state seal, two "skinny" grizzly bears appeared. In later drawings, the animals were plump.

"Missouri never had any grizzlies, but they were a symbol of strength," Nickell said.

• Letter-writing campaign. Oliver wrote to every secretary of state in the nation, informing them Missouri was developing a state flag and asking them to send copies of their flags back to Missouri.

"That letter inspired states without flags to create committees to get to work getting banners made," explained Nickell, noting Wyoming, Illinois, Indiana, Montana and Arkansas all came up with flag designs in short order.

• Flag restoration. Because of the wear of years, the Oliver-MacFarland flag began to deteriorate and was put into storage. In 1988, then-Secretary of State Roy Blunt issued a challenge to Missouri's elementary students to save pennies to restore the banner. The campaign was successful and the flag is today displayed in the James C. Kirkpatrick State Information Center in Jefferson City.
• The Oliver-Leming House, at 740 North St. in Cape Girardeau, the home of the Missouri state flag, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. It is owned by Bert and Mary Ann Kellerman, retired professors at Southeast Missouri State University, who later established the Kellerman Foundation for Historic Preservation.