LANCASTER, Ohio, June 25 (DC Times Online) — For travelers who tour state capitols, Bob Heft’s story links one classroom in Lancaster, Ohio, to buildings from Austin to Albany and beyond. Heft said he designed the 50-star U.S. flag at age 17 as a high school history project, then sent it to President Dwight D. Eisenhower before the design was officially adopted.
How a school project became the 50-star flag
In a StoryCorps oral history, Heft said his teacher, Stanley Pratt, assigned the project and that he sewed the flag himself, even though he had never sewn before. Heft recalled getting a B- and being told, “If you don’t like the grade, get it accepted in Washington then come back and see me.”
Heft’s account says he took that challenge seriously. He said he sent the flag to the White House in 1959, asking Eisenhower to adopt it for the nation’s new flag when Hawaii became the 50th state.
The timing mattered. Alaska had already become a state in 1959, which made a 49-star flag official for a short time. Hawaii’s later statehood meant the country needed another version. Heft’s story is that his 50-star design was ready before the federal government officially adopted it.
What the records and later letters show
Heft’s own recollections are the backbone of the story. Fox News reported that Eisenhower’s chief of staff, Wilton B. Persons, sent Heft a letter thanking him. In the same reporting, Heft said he had made and flown the first 50-star flag in the United States and that it was first flown on March 7, 1959.
The sources provided do not include the full archival letters, so the story is best understood as a mix of Heft’s first-person account and later government correspondence. Still, the timeline is clear: Heft had a 50-star design before the Eisenhower administration officially adopted the flag on July 4, 1960.
Why state capitols are part of the story
The flag did not stay only in Ohio or Washington. Fox News reported that Heft later got his flag flown over at least 40 state capitol buildings from 1960 to 1962. The report names New York, California, Massachusetts, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, Iowa, Utah, Nebraska and Alaska among the places where it flew.
Texas is one of the most specific stops in that record. Fox News reported that the flag flew for five hours over the Texas State Capitol in Austin on Oct. 5, 1960. Gov. Price Daniel said it would have been displayed all day except for rain and high wind.
Ohio also appears in the paper trail. Fox News reported that Gov. Michael DiSalle wrote Heft that he was “pleased to verify your story that yours was the first 50-star flag displayed in Ohio on Ohio property.”
What travelers should take from the story
If you are planning a capitol-building trip, Heft’s story gives those stops a second layer of meaning. The route of the 50-star flag runs through Lancaster, Washington, D.C., Austin and a long list of state capitols across the country.
Later summaries of Heft’s story also say the original handmade flag was shown at the White House and at U.S. embassies, though the counts vary by source. For visitors, the practical takeaway is simple: some of the places you can visit today were part of the public rollout of the flag that became the nation’s official banner in 1960.
