Peoria Standard

Rep. Tim Butler (R-Springfield) took to Facebook to celebrate the history of the United States flag.

“I take tremendous pride in our flag,” Butler wrote on Facebook.

According to a story in the Fergus Fall Journal, Bernard Cigrand, a Chicagoland resident who taught in the dental schools of both Northwestern and the University of Illinois, is credited with the first observance of Flag Day in 1885.

Cigrand was a 19-year-old instructor who made $40 a month teaching in a one-room schoolhouse near Fredonia, Wis., north of Milwaukee. A son of immigrants from Luxembourg and an American history enthusiast, Cigrand sought to share his love of country with his pupils.

“Our flag belongs to all Americans, and its red, white, and blue colors are woven into a rich tapestry of different cultures, backgrounds, and beliefs which connects us and honors our shared history,” President Biden said in a statement. “Old Glory has flown around the world in times of war and in times of peace. It has traveled to the Moon and Mars.”

According to a story in MSN, Betsy Ross, the Philadelphia seamstress, is often credited for making the first flag. But there's no proof she did. The MSN story said the person who made the first flag, "was Francis Hopkinson, a New Jersey delegate to the Continental Congress and signer of the Declaration of Independence. He also played a role in designing seals for departments within the U.S. government."

According to the Library of Congress, "Ross most likely met Washington and certainly sewed early American flags in her family’s Philadelphia upholstery shop."

According to a story on History.com, on June 14, 1777, the Second Continental Congress took a break from writing the Articles of Confederation and passed a resolution stating that “the flag of the United States be 13 stripes, alternate red and white,” and that “the union be 13 stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation.”

In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson marked the anniversary of that decree by officially establishing June 14 as Flag Day.

The Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library wrote Eisenhower suggested the idea of seven staggered rows of seven stars back on Nov. 19, 1958, during a Cabinet meeting when first adding Alaska and Hawaii.