Yes, the Ohio state flag is also stored here. For nearly 100 years, Ohio did not have an official state flag. The example in the storage cabinet, however, set the groundwork for changing that. At the 1901 Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York, it became the first Ohio state flag flown in public.
The Pan-American Exposition featured displays of state pride and the new flag--designed by Cleveland architect, John Eisenmann, and commissioned by William S. McKinnon, chairman of the Ohio Commission--symbolically celebrated Ohio's natural and cultural history.
The red and white stripes symbolized its roads and waterways, while the blue triangle represented its hills and valleys. The white "O" represented the Northwest Territory (and "Ohio's" first initial), with the smaller red circle inside suggesting a buckeye. Thirteen stars representing the first thirteen U.S. states flanked the circles on the left, while the four stars on the circles' right denoted Ohio as the fourth new state to enter the Union.
The flag, manufactured by the M.C. Lilley Company of Columbus, Ohio, flew high above the Ohio Building, another Eisenmann-designed feature at the Exposition.
