Flag of Maryland


The flag of Maryland is the official flag of the U.S. state of Maryland and the 17th-century heraldic banner of arms of Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore|Cecil, 2nd Baron Baltimore]. It consists of the arms of his father George, 1st Baron Baltimore, quartered with those of his grandmother, heiress of the Crossland family. The flag was officially adopted by the Maryland General Assembly in 1904.

Design and specifications

Statute

Under MD General Provisions Code § 7‑201, the "Maryland flag" is officially designated as the State flag.
The 2024 Maryland General Provisions Code, § 7‑202 describes the state flag as follows:

Colors

For printing, the Secretary of State specifies that the red and yellow colors in the Maryland flag should conform to the following Pantone Matching System standards:

Color scheme coated		RedWhiteGoldBlack
PantonePMS 201WhitePMS 124Black
CMYK0-82-68-380-0-0-1000-27-100-80-0-0-0
HEX
RGB158-29-50255-255-255235-172-00-0-0

Flagpole ornament

In 1945, the Maryland General Assembly made a gold cross bottony the official ornament for the top of any flagpole carrying the state flag. Under MD General Provisions Code § 7‑203, the only permitted ornament on the top of a flagstaff displaying the Maryland state flag is a gold cross bottony.
Maryland is the only state in the union that has a specific guideline not only on how to display the flag but also on what ornament should be on top of the flagpole as well. Sometime before October 10, 2007, Government House in Annapolis ceased to display the cross bottony at the top of the flag pole, but the flags at the State House continue to do so. In March 2015, the gold cross bottony was put back on top of the flag pole on Government House. All other state government buildings, including public schools, obey this guideline, but many private individuals and businesses do not.

History

The banner of arms of the Barons Baltimore, now the Maryland state flag, contains the coat of arms of George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore in the canton and the lower fly, while the arms of Alicia Crossland, appear in the upper fly and lower hoist.
The arms of George Calvert, a former Secretary of State, were originally granted as a reward for storming a fortification in battle, with the vertical bars symbolzing the palisade.) Because George Calvert's mother was a heraldic heiress, he was entitled to use her Crossland family coat of arms in his own arms. Upon the death of George, 1st Baron Baltimore, in April 1632, the right to bear the arms and banner passed to his eldest son and heir Cecil Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore, to whom the Province of Maryland was granted that same year by King Charles I. Hence the use of his banner of arms as the flag.
The heraldic blazon is:
During the colonial period, however, only the gold and black Calvert arms were associated with Maryland. The state stopped using the colors following American independence, but they were reintroduced in 1854.
By the Civil War, the most common design representing all of Maryland consisted of the seal of Maryland on a blue background, which at the time did not include George Calvert's arms.
In the war, both Union and Confederate armies had Maryland contingents with distinctive unit badges. Union troops favored the yellow-and-black Calvert arms, while the Confederate units became associated with the Crossland banner and its bottony cross. When the present flag made its first appearance in 1876, it included both. This may have been a last-minute compromise or, as the modern Maryland Secretary of State suggests, a representation of the reunion of all the state's citizens, 11 years after the war ended.
A state flag was flown over the dome of the state house in 1817, Its design is not known.
Although the current flag was not adopted until 1904, a flag with this design was first flown in 1876 from the Maryland building during the Centennial Exposition. It measured 3 x 4 feet. A second state flag was flown in Baltimore, on October 11, 1880, at a parade marking the 150th anniversary of the founding of Baltimore. The flag was flown again on October 25, 1888, at the Gettysburg Battlefield during ceremonies dedicating monuments to the Maryland regiments of the Army of the Potomac by reorganized regiments of the former state militia, now the Maryland National Guard.
In 2001, a survey conducted by the North American Vexillological Association placed Maryland's flag fourth best in design quality out of the 72 flags of the provinces of Canada, the U.S. states, and the territories of the United States. It finished behind the flags of New Mexico, Texas and Quebec respectively.

Uses

The Calvert and Crossland arms and banner, and the Maryland flag itself, have been adapted for use in various ways across the state.

Official

Education

Sport

  • An alternate logo of the Baltimore Ravens professional football team in the National Football League is a shield with alternating Calvert and Crossland Banners interlocked with a stylized "B" and "R".
  • The University of Maryland, College Park athletic teams have long used the colors of the state flag. All four colors from the flag are currently used, with the primary colors being red and white, with black and gold used as accent colors. The Maryland flag is also displayed on the right shoulder of the football uniforms. At the start of the 2011 football season, the team unveiled a new uniform designed by Baltimore-based sportswear company Under Armour combining both parts of the flag. Similarly, the men's lacrosse team features designs from the flag on the jersey shoulders.
  • Beginning on September 9, 2008, the University of Maryland painted both end zones at SECU Stadium with the flag's two patterns.
  • The Baltimore Dragon Boat Club features the flag motif in its logo.
  • Starting with the 2009 season, the Baltimore Orioles major league baseball club has added a patch to the left arm of their uniforms that features a round version of the Maryland flag.
  • Maryland-based company Under Armour released a line of cleats in 2017, with the Crossland coat of arms design incorporated into the cleats. Under Armour bags also incorporate the flag in its design starting in late 2015 and is seen at its outlet mall locations.
  • Junior Hockey teams Maryland Black Bears and Team Maryland sport the flag on their team jerseys.

Other

  • Southwest Airlines painted a Boeing 737-700 in a Maryland state flag theme in 2005, dubbed Maryland One in recognition of the airline's hub in Baltimore.
  • The world's only full size chain mail/scale mail Maryland flag was created by Brian Galloway, a retired U.S. Air Force veteran from Cecil County. It is, consisting of over 22,000 individual aluminum scales, over 45,000 rings, and weighs close to.
  • The flag, as a coat of arms, is used on the state's welcome sign.