Flag of Nevada
The flag of the U.S. state of Nevada was adopted in 1929, when governor Fred B. Balzar signed into law a bill adopting the new flag. Its design consists of a solid cobalt blue field with, in the upper hoist quarter, two crossed sprays of sagebrush forming a half-wreath. Centered within the wreath is an upward-pointing silver star, with the state's name arched below it in evenly spaced golden-yellow letters. Above the wreath is a golden-yellow scroll touching its tips, bearing the words "Battle Born", one of the state's mottos.
Statute
The 2024 Nevada Revised Statutes, Chapter 235, § 235.020 defines the state flag as follows:History
In 1877, there was a bill on the house floor to come up with a state flag. It never went anywhere.First flag (1905)
The first flag of Nevada was created by Governor John Sparks and Colonel Harry Day in 1905. It was based strongly on Nevada's natural resources of gold and silver. The blue of the flag was to be the same as the blue on the flag of [the United States].Second flag (1915)
The second flag of Nevada was designed by Miss Clara Crisler in 1915. The flag sought to be more representative of Nevada by adding the state seal as the center point of the flag. The flag retained the same blue field as the previous flag. The 36 stars on the flag represented how Nevada was the 36th state in the union.The flag proved popular, but the abundance of colors on the seal was too expensive to produce which led to the adoption of a new flag in 1929.
Current flag (1929)
The current flag had its origin in a design contest announced in 1926. The winning design, by Louis Shellback III, was subjected to some revision in the state legislature, where there was disagreement between the two houses over the placement of the word "Nevada" on the flag. A compromise was reached, and in 1929 Governor Fred B. Balzar signed into law a bill adopting the new flag.In 1989, however, a legislative researcher discovered that the bill as sent to and signed by the governor did not accurately reflect the 1929 legislative agreement. The flag used from 1929 until it was revised in 1991 displayed the letters of the word "Nevada" in a complete circle around the flag's single star, with the "N" of Nevada at the uppermost tip of the star indicating its "northern" position in the civil war, and with each of the other letters of the word Nevada located in the spaces between the remaining points of the star, displaying near each junction of the star's pentagonal center. Thus, "Nevada" was spelt from the "N" at the top, radiating clockwise E, V, A, D, A, in the spaces between the star's points.
A law enacted in 1991 directed that the word "Nevada" appear below the star and above the sagebrush sprays, thus producing the current design.