Arizona State FlagArizona State Flag

"blue, red, yellow and copper flag"

Adopted on February 17, 1917.

The Arizona state flag was adopted on February 17, 1917. The flag of Arizona consists of 13 rays of red and weld-yellow on the top half, the colors of the flag of Spain, representing the 13 original states. The red and yellow also symbolize Arizona's picturesque sunsets. The copper star represents the copper mining industry in Arizona. The rest of the flag is colored blue, representing liberty.

The Arizona State Flag

Arizona Flag of 1917

The flag was designed by Colonel Charles W. Harris, Adjutant General of Arizona (1912-1918 and 1923-1928). According to Colonel Harris, the suggestion that the state adopt a flag came originally from the members of the 1910 Arizona Rifle Team in attendance at the National Rifle Matches at Camp Perry. All of the other teams at Camp Perry flew a distinctive flag, while Arizona was without an emblem of any kind. The first flag was sewn by Nan D. Hayden.

In designing the flag, the first consideration was historical value; the second was colors. Blue and gold were the Arizona colors, and red and gold were the colors carried by the Spanish Conquistadores, headed by Coronado, in the expedition of 1540 to the Seven Cities of Cibola. From these circumstances, and from the blue of the Union Flag, were derived the blue, the red, and the gold (or yellow as the law names it) of the Arizona Flag. Since Arizona was the largest producer of copper in the nation, and the star an emblem which might be easily distinguished, the copper star found its place on the blue field. As a western state, it was thought the effect of the rays of the setting sun would be appropriate to the Arizona Flag, and in these rays the red and gold (or yellow) of the old Spanish colors of Coronado were used.

Arizona Flag Law

Arizona Revised Statutes, Title 41, Chapter 4.1, Article 5.

Title 41 - State Government.
Article 5 - State Emblems.
Sections 41-851 & 41-852.
41-851. State colors; state flag

A. Blue and old gold shall be the colors of the state. The blue shall be the same shade as that of the flag of the United States.

B. The flag of the state shall be of the following design: The lower half of the flag a blue field and the upper half divided into thirteen equal segments or rays which shall start at the center on the lower line and continue to the edges of the flag, colored alternately light yellow and red, consisting of six yellow and seven red rays. In the center of the flag, superimposed, there shall be a copper-colored five pointed star, so placed that the upper points shall be one foot from the top of the flag and the lower points one foot from the bottom of the flag. The red and blue shall be the same shade as the colors in the flag of the United States. The flag shall have a four-foot hoist and a six-foot fly, with a two-foot star and the same proportions shall be observed for flags of other sizes.


41-852. Display of state flag; death of incumbent elective state officer; display of United States flag and Constitution and the Bill of Rights

A. The state flag shall be displayed alongside the flag of the United States on or in front of the state capitol building, and institutional and educational buildings of the state as the governor directs, on or in front of the courthouse of each county, and other institutional buildings of each county as the board of supervisors directs, and on or in front of the city or town hall of each incorporated city or town, and other municipally owned buildings as the governing body of the municipality directs.

B. On the death of an incumbent elective state officer, each state flag displayed pursuant to subsection A shall be flown at half-staff for a period of seven days beginning on the day following the death of the officer.

C. The flag of the United States shall be displayed in each hearing room in the state house of representatives and state senate in accordance with title 4 of the United States Code and a legible copy of the Constitution of the United States and the Bill of Rights shall be displayed adjacent to the flag.

State Flags
State Flags

The Flags of the US.