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Concord, New Hampshire

Merrimack County

image by Dave Martucci, 7 May 2002
As used in the City Chambers. See also reverse.

Description
City flag according to City Code
City flag actually used in City Chambers
The Reconstruction of Concord's Flag History

See also:

Merrimack County
County and Municipal Flags of New Hampshire
New Hampshire
United States of America

External sites:
Dave Martucci's page describing his unraveling of the story of the flags of Concord (pdf)

Description

Section 1-2-3 of the Concord City Code reads:

City Flag. The City flag shall be of the design indicated below with or without the words "Concord" and "New Hampshire" as they appear thereon. The official design and color scheme of the flag will be on file with the City Clerk.

The date of adoption given in the Code is 10 December 1979. Unfortunately, no illustration is provided with the online code.

In case you're counting, that makes two flags, one with the inscription and one without. Both are official.

Dave Martucci, 7 May 2002

City flag according to City Code

With text

image by Dave Martucci, 7 May 2002

Without Text

image by Dave Martucci, 7 May 2002

City flag actually used in City Chambers

image by Dave Martucci, 7 May 2002

The flag used in the City Chambers differs from the flag officially described, having only one blue bar. The reverse of this flag retains the arrangement of the stagecoach, so is not a mirror image:

image by Dave Martucci, 7 May 2002

The Reconstruction of Concord's Flag History

Based on the above incomplete research, I have arranged the flags of Concord in the order I believe they should be in chronologically. More research, as noted, needs to be done to verify these designs and dates.

City Flag prior to 1950 (de facto)

image by Dave Martucci

This flag was located in the auditorium of the Public Library. This flag is made of a synthetic fabric, probably Nylon, three vertical stripes of white-blue-white, with the City Seal appliquéd and embroidered in the center, with a dove holding a red scroll inscribed "NEW HAMPSHIRE" in gold over the top and the words "CITY OF" in gold on the hoist stripe and "CONCORD" in gold on the fly stripe. The flag is in pretty poor condition and my examination leads me to believe the flag was probably made around 1950, which seems about right given the further information we uncovered.

City Flag prior to 1979 (de jure, reconstructed)

image by Dave Martucci, 7 May 2002

In the City Clerk's Office the Assistant handed me a newspaper clipping. It was published in the Concord Monitor on 22 October 1979. The cover illustration was in full color and showed yet another flag (that's five!) that was being proposed to the City Council. [see above] It shows two unequal vertical stripes of blue-white and has a white dove and star on the blue and the Concord Coach and two inscriptions, "CITY OF CONCORD, N.H." arched over the top in blue and "1853" in white on a blue scroll below.

The article, entitled "Coach, Dove And Star Highlight Flag Committee's Offering," by Randall Keith, Monitor Staff Writer, was printed on page 2. It explained the symbols as follows:

a dove holding an olive branch for peace, which in Latin is "concord".
a star showing Concord is the State Capital.
the blue is the color of New Hampshire.
the Concord Coach represents Concord.
1853 is the year the City was incorporated.

The article also gave some of the background of the design. It was the result of an eight-month search by a Council Committee. The committee, headed by Councillor John F. Upton, reviewed "five or six designs submitted by residents and decided that instead of picking one, they would use the best features of each." The committee "tried out different combinations and placements" of the symbols.

The article also states Wendell and Ralph Holt, who were owners of "a flag and home furnishings shop on South Street" helped with the design and gathered information on production costs. At the point it was written, the next step was to present the design at a public hearing that was scheduled for 13 November 1979 and then a Council vote. As previously stated, the official flag was adopted less than two months later, on 10 December 1979.

The article also states there were two existing City Flags and the description of neither of them matches the flags discovered so far! That makes flags number six and seven!!

According to Keith, the City Code as it existed in October 1979 described an official flag as having "three equal-sized stripes -- white, blue and white -- with the city seal in the upper left hand corner and a white dove in the middle of the blue stripe."

Another flag was also described. "The second design was produced in 1951 by a local high school student. It has three vertical bars -- blue, white and blue -- with the city seal in the middle of the white stripe. The words 'City of Concord' run across the bottom of the flag."

Official flag in 1979(?)

image by Dave Martucci, 7 May 2002

City Flag design of 1951 by a local high school student (de facto, reconstructed).

image by Dave Martucci, 7 May 2002