100 years ago in Spokane: A local man asked a question that eventually led to Washington getting a state flag

W.H. Lewis of Spokane posed the following question: “Why doesn’t the state of Washington have an official flag?”

He pointed out that Washington had a state flower, but was one of the few states without an official flag.

Lewis, a retired police inspector, was proposing that the legislature adopt a bill that would rectify the situation. And Lewis had an idea for what the flag should look like.

“My idea would be the seal of the state of Washington in bronze color, in the center of a banner with a pea-green background,” he said.

Lewis had been soliciting support for the idea with his state representatives and with various patriotic organizations.

State Representative Arthur True said he was “heartily in favor of Mr. Lewis’ idea,” and he was willing to sponsor such a bill.

As it turned out, Lewis was not the only one advocating for a state flag. Both the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Sons of the American Revolution had long been lobbying for such a flag.

The state legislature approved a bill in 1923, and a design – similar to what Lewis proposed – was adopted in 1924.

From the court beat: The Maurice Codd subornation of perjury trial was delayed because one of the defense counsels came down with a “severe attack of grippe,” and one of the jurors was “suffering from neuralgia.”

The judge hoped to resume the trial the next day.