In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation that officially established this day — June 14 — as Flag Day. Congress followed up in 1949 by enacting a statute that officially recognized Flag Day.
Flag Day, however, is not an official federal holiday. While the statute leaves it to the president’s discretion to proclaim its observance, every president since Wilson has done so.
Flag Day commemorates the adoption of the U.S. flag of the United States, which occurred on this day in 1777 by means of a resolution adopted by the Second Continental Congress. It also marks the birthday of the U.S. Army; Congress authorized “the American Continental Army” on June 14, 1775.
On June 14, 1937, Pennsylvania became the first state to celebrate Flag Day as a state holiday. New York designates the second Sunday in June as Flag Day and makes it a state holiday.
Stony Hill School in Waubeka, Wisconsin, is the site of the first formal observance of Flag Day. In 1885, Bernard Cigrand, a grade school teacher, held the first recognized formal observance of Flag Day there. The school has since been restored; a bust of Cigrand honors him at the National Flag Day Americanism Center in Waubeka.
Cigrand generally is credited with being the “Father of Flag Day”; The Chicago Tribune noted that he "almost single-handedly" established the holiday that commemorates the stars and stripes.
In June 1886, after moving to Chicago to attend dental school, Cigrand proposed holding an annual observance of the birth of the U.S. flag in an article for the Chicago Argus titled “The Fourteenth of June.”
From the late 1880s on, Cigrand spoke around the country promoting patriotism, respect for the flag and the need for the annual observance of a flag day on June 14.
Cigrand also advocated establishing the holiday in a speech before the Sons of America, a Chicago-based group. The organization founded a magazine, American Standard, to promote reverence for American emblems. Cigrand was appointed editor-in-chief and wrote articles in the magazine as well as in other publications promoting the holiday.
He became president of the American Flag Day Association and later of the National Flag Day Society, which allowed him to promote his cause with organizational backing. Cigrand once noted he had given 2,188 speeches on patriotism and the flag.