MISSOURI STATE FLAG ORIGINATES IN CAPE

At 740 North Street, near Southeast Missouri State University, is the Oliver-Leming home, where Marie Elizabeth Watkins Oliver designed and hand stitched the original Missouri State Flag.

"Mrs. Oliver realized that Missouri did not have a flag and since her husband was state senator, she decided to hand-design one," said David Taylor, current owner of the Oliver-Leming House. "Along with the help of her friend, Mary Kochtitzky, they came up with the design of the flag that was finally adopted."

The flag was adopted in 1913, although it was sewn in 1912, Taylor said. "At the time, many states were having flags made to symbolize their statehood," he said.

The Missouri State Flag contains red, white and blue stripes of equal width, and in the center the state seal is surrounded by a blue circle containing 24 stars, representing Missouri as the 24th state to join the union in 1821.

"I think that it's pretty neat, to have the flag tied to Cape Girardeau," said Taylor. "I wish they would emphasize that more in their tourist information. It's not an unknown, it's just not as known as it could be. I think Cape misses out on a lot of tourism by not capitalizing on it."

Taylor, who purchased the Oliver-Leming house in 1988, said it is in the midst of renovations. "This is a pretty neat house," said Taylor, "and a historically important house. We want to treasure the house and bring it back and fill it the way it could have been filled. We are trying not to modernize it too much, but still make it functional.

"We get tour buses up here all the time from the boats and people coming up wanting to see where the state flag was designed. We are more than willing to open the house up and let people in that want to come in."

Allen L.Oliver, son of state Senator and Mrs. R.B. Oliver of Cape Girardeau, presented the original state flag to Secretary of State Warren E. Hearnes on June 14, 1961. The Oliver-Leming House was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Sept. 12, 1980.