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Marshall County, West Virginia (U.S.)

image by David Sigley, 27 November 2022
based on photo

Description of the flag

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Municipal flags in Marshall County:

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Description of the flag

The flag of Marshall County was adopted on November 2, 1974, and it became the first county to officially adopt a County Flag. The flag is a white field with a four-inch dark blue border. At the top of the flag is a yellow banner that slightly curves downwards. The text "COUNTY OF MARSHALL" is inscribed on the banner. Under the banner and in the main centerpiece of the flag is a device that looks like an the mix of a tiltable mirror stand, and a coat of arms. It is made of a golden oval with a thick white border, both use a black outline. Two golden black outlined pillars emerge from the oval, with both pillars containing a word. The left pillars says "PRIDE", while the pillar on the right says "PROGRESS". They connect the oval to a white banner with black outlines. The middle of the banner contains the name of John Marshall. Both ends of the banner includes a black star. The center piece of the whole device is John Marshall himself. The date "1835" is split into two by the device. below the device and at the bottom of the flag is the state name. At the bottom hoist side of the flag is a registered rights symbol with "1975 Andrew Steeles".

I contacted the Marshall County Historical Society about the flag, as they had one in their collection. They stated that their flag had 1973 on it, though they were unsure if it was an adoption date or not. About a couple months later, they sent me a document which dated from 2001 which explains the history of the Marshall County flag, I have translated the document from picture to text with the following message:

HISTORY OF THE MARSHALL COUNTY FLAG

August 27, 2001

Interest in an official Marshall County Flag originated during the ground breaking ceremony for the new Marshall County Court House on Saturday, August 25, 1973.

Marshall County Commissioner, Paul Garvin approached Andy Steele, the presiding president of the Marshall County Planning Commission and requested that he explore designs for a County Flag. The entire County Commission later made it a formal request and Andrew Steele began researching the history of Marshall County, particularly how it archived it's name. From this research a design was drafted and presented to the County Commission. The Commission recommended changing the heading of the design from MARSHALL COUNTY to read instead COUNTY OF MARSHALL. The design was then approved by the entire County Commission with the recommendation that it have the same four-inch blue border as that of the West Virginia State Flag.

The County Court requested that the County Planning Commission procure bids for the manufacture of a flag for an official presentation at the dedication of the new Marshall County court House on Saturday, November 2, 1974. The Planning Commission reported back to the County Court with a list of bids, the lowest of which was $560.00. The County Court decided that this was not within their budget at that time and a general feeling throughout the courthouse was that the flag would not be available for the official presentation of the new Court House. With everyone in despair over the prospects of missing a golden opportunity to not only become the first county in West Virginia to have it's own County Flag, but to make it official at the public ceremony, Andrew Steele, President of the Planning Commission stepped forward and made the statement that, "There would be a flag if he had to make it himself".

Commission John Myers approved the purchase of limited supplies of silk and paint for Andy Steele to begin the Construction of a handmade flag. Mr. Steele hand drew the face of John Marshall and the lettering necessary on the flag and his wife Georgia Steele hand stitched the panels together and added a blue border, The Steeles, Andre and Georgia worked together for two months to hand manufacture the very first Marshall County Flag.

The flag was introduced for the first time at the opening ceremony for the new courthouse dedication on November 2, 1974. The ceremony was presided over by County Commissioner, John Myers with great honor being the then Governor of West Virginia, Arch A. Moore Jr. who was a native of Marshall County. At the conclusion of the dedication, on Executive Session of the County Court was held in the second office off the Main Lobby and Commissioner Charles Helinski make a motion that the flag be adopted as the official County Flag and the hand made prototype be hung in the main Lobby for a period of thirty days for public viewing. It was further moved that after the thirty day viewing period, a display case would be constructed and that the flag be on permanent display in the Courthouse Lobby. Mr Steele later Hand Manufactured the case now on display.

Links:
County flag at the Marshall County Historical Society: https://www.facebook.com/MarshallCountyHistoryMuseum/photos/893685198694512
County flag in the County Commission: https://marshallcountywv.gov/gov/agencies/county-commission

David Sigley, 27 November 2022