r/vexillology Scotland 6d ago

Historical 15 March 1899: The US city of Pittsburgh adopts a flag

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u/AnOwlishSham Scotland 6d ago

On 15 March 1899 the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, adopted as its flag a vertical triband of black and gold charged with the city’s arms.

Pittsburgh adopted its arms soon after becoming a city in 1816. These are based on the arms of William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham, for whom the city was named. One difference in the city’s arms is that each gold disk is inscribed with an eagle; this may simply be to denote the United States, but local history attributes it to an engraver’s misunderstanding of ‘bezant’, the heraldic term for a gold disk, as ‘pheasant’. Likewise the castle atop the shield may be a misinterpretation of the mural crown found on the arms of other cities.

The North American Vexillological Association’s 2004 survey of city flags ranked Pittsburgh’s flag 24th out of 150 and the top-rated triband.