Business Raises New Flag To Celebrate Flag Day

A new United States flag is waving in Cranford. The is proud to fly the nation’s colors at their offices at 411 North Ave. East in Cranford. The flag is also visible from the Garden State Parkway.

The new flag was raised to celebrate Flag Day June 14, 2012. The flag measures 5 feet by 8 feet and is displayed on a 35-foot pole along with the flag of
New Jersey.

“We are proud to fly our nation’s colors and do our part to remind those traveling of the strengths of this great nation,” John E. McWeeney, Jr., president and CEO of the NJBankers, said.

It was June 14, 1777 when the Continental Congress passed an act establishing an official flag for our new nation. The resolution ordered that "the flag of the United States be made of thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be 13 stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation." On Aug. 3, 1949, President Harry S. Truman commemorated the occasion by officially declaring June 14 as Flag Day.

Some historians believe the first American flag was designed by Congressman Francis Hopkinson and sewn by Philadelphia seamstress Betsy Ross.

The name “Old Glory” was given to a large, 10-by-17-foot flag owned by William Driver, a sea captain from Massachusetts. Driver’s flag is said to have survived attempts to deface it during the Civil War.

Between 1777 and 1960, Congress passed several acts that changed the shape, design and arrangement of the flag and allowed stars and stripes to be added to reflect the admission of each new state. Today, the flag consists of 13 horizontal stripes, seven red alternating with six white. The stripes represent the original 13 colonies; the stars represent the 50 states of the Union. The colors of the flag are symbolic as well, red symbolizes hardiness and valor, white symbolizes purity and innocence and blue represents vigilance, perseverance and justice.

In 1909, Robert Peary placed a flag at the North Pole. In 1963, Barry Bishop placed the flag on top of Mount Everest. And in July 1969, the flag reached the moon when Astronaut Neil Armstrong took “one small step for man and a giant leap for mankind.”

The New Jersey State Flag was adopted in 1896. Its official color is buff. The colors of the state flag, buff and dark blue (Jersey blue), were the colors George Washington chose for the flag of New Jersey's army regiments during the Revolutionary War. The design featured on the flag signifies the state seal.