Flag Day
Flag Day was originally proposed in the Hartford Evening Press editorial. It was suggested that the stars & stripes “be recognized wherever the American flag floats.” It’s no coincidence that the holiday was proposed in 1861, just two months after the attack on Fort Sumter that started the Civil War.
“It was a moment when the American flag really had the biggest transformation in its history. It went from something that was a patriotic symbol & a marker of federal property & military use, to being something that was really widely used as a beloved banner for ordinary Americans as well.” And, there was a commercial element too: during the Civil War, flag manufacturers were making a fortune on flags, & it’s no coincidence that the holiday was proposed in New England, the center of the textile industry. There, for the first time, various dyeing & printing techniques made it easier to mass-produce flags of all sizes. Before that period, flags were made by stitching together fields of solid fabric. Each star had to individually cut out & sewn on. By the Civil War era, however, it was possible to print the colors onto one piece of fabric. “It was really something very new, so the holiday was driven by was commercialization, technology, politics, patriotism—all this stuff coming together & crystallizing in one historical moment.”
choose your attitude!
The hotel still boasts posh accommodations & a spa good enough for a president - famous guest Harry S. Truman's favorite treatments included a salt rub & massage. End the night with dinner in the renovated restaurant or have a glass of wine in the lobby bar before retreating to your well-appointed stateroom. Read in Midwest Living.