|
Greetings,
Do you know the history of our City flag? The black, white, and yellow one that you'll only see in Monterey?
50 years ago, the City received this flag design as a gift from Paul Chadbourne Mills, Director of the Santa Barbara Museum of Art and an expert in "vexillology" or the "study of flags." Mills donated this design to the City of Monterey to honor the United States Bicentennial (200 years) celebration; he had chaired the "New Glory" national exhibit in 1976 at the MOMA in New York City. The City adopted the flag in 1977, and first presented it at the opening of the Monterey Conference Center on April 19, 1977.
The black, white, yellow, and green of the flag all have symbolic reference.
In 1602, Sebastian Vizcaino named the Monterey Bay harbor "Monterrey" after the Conde de Monterrey - Gaspar de Acevedo y Zuniga. Vizcaino was a pearl merchant in Baja California, and was sent to search for pearls & map the coast - but given strict orders not to rename anything. In 1542 the area was called "La Bahia de Los Pinos" or Bay of Pines by Cabrillo. Vizcaino renamed cities across the coast anyways, and named the landing after his benefactor. The Vizcaino shield is white with a black stripe across.
Alfred Sulley served the U.S. Army in Monterey from 1849 - 1852 and is said to have carried the City Seal at the first Fourth of July parade in 1850, which was adopted 100 years later in 1950. You'll see the City seal on all of our City vehicles (and the bottom of this email!). As stated in 1950: "our seal, adopted a century ago, expressed the hope that Monterey would continue to grow. It describes our city being born as separate from the ancient domains of the United States, and the shield is green, as the environs of the town are alwasy green. The anchor, the sheaf, the horse and the bull all show how hopeful the founders were of commerce playing an important part in its future. The rising sun expressed the hope that Monterey would be a rising town. The motto "Anda" is symbolic of the spirit of the City of Monterey and expressed the hope for continued forward growth."
You can read more about the history of our Monterey flag here. Why am I interested in flags? Well, we recently came across some historic flags from Monterey that we are excited to show in July at Colton Hall. Check our calendar soon for more details!~
Anda!
Brian
| 
