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WHEELING -- The Friendly City gives its residents many things to be proud of, and Wheeling leaders were excited to run the city’s latest achievement up the flagpole - literally.
The city recently was informed that a national group of flag enthusiasts had selected Wheeling’s design as one of the best among city flags in the nation. Late last year, the North American Vexillological Association (NAVA) - an organization with more than 1,000 flag aficionados and scholars - conducted a survey about the design of flags from U.S. cities and towns that were known to have adopted new flags or redesigned the flags for their communities since 2015.
More than 2,800 people participated in the online survey of 312 known flags that met these criteria, ranking each of the designs on a scale. The survey took place last fall from Sept. 1 to Nov. 30, and the results of the survey were recently released.
In the end, Wheeling’s flag received a grade of A and placed among the top 25 flags in the survey.
"Those of us who worked on the city’s flag design were aware of the guidelines for vexillology," said Jay Frey, who chaired the Wheeling 250 celebration in 2019, the big city anniversary event for which the new flag was developed in 2018. "However, we didn’t know that Wheelings flag was in the 2022 survey, so it’s especially gratifying that it was chosen among the top 25 nationally."
The city had a previous flag design which was developed in 1964 and later adopted, but that banner was never truly embraced by the citizens in the city of Wheeling. More recently, an effort was put toward designing a more impactful and meaningful flag in preparation for the city’s landmark birthday, and Wheeling 250 committee member Erin Rothenbuehler took the lead on the project to design the new flag, which was officially adopted by the city in 2018.
"The city ‘s flag tells our story in its symbols, so it’s a useful tool in recounting our heritage to young people and to future generations," Frey said. "That was the intention when we undertook creating the flag in 2018 in preparation for 2019’s Wheeling 250 anniversary. Our 250 motto was ‘Bright Future, Cherished Heritage.’ I think our flag says that loud and clear."
The navy blue stripes on the flag represent the Ohio River and other waterways, according to the city’s website. Three total bars represent three major modes of transportation -- river, road and rail. The middle stripe or white field in the middle contains five gold stars containing eight points each to resemble navigation stars, giving a nod to Wheeling as a transportation hub.
Each star is meant to represent a major era in Wheeling’s past: an indigenous star for the native tribes from which the city’s name was derived, a frontier star representing the area’s settlement and early U.S. history, a transportation star marking the city’s rise as an important crossroads of major travel arteries, a statehood star signifying its unique status as the only U.S. state born of the Civil War, and an industrial star boasting Wheeling’s history as a significant labor and manufacturing center.
Since Wheeling is considered the birthplace of West Virginia, the official state colors of navy blue and "old gold" are used in the city flag.
"When done right, a flag can represent a city both to its residents and the outside world," Wheeling Mayor Glenn Elliott said. "And judging by this national recognition, it certainly looks like the city of Wheeling's new flag (adopted in 2018) was done right."
The mayor also saluted those who helped develop the new flag for the city.
"So much credit here goes to its primary designers, Erin Rothenbuehler, Travis Henline and Sean Duffy for coming up with an elegant design that incorporates elements of the city's geography, transportation past, and history generally," Elliott said. "But I also want to thank Jay Frey for making the adoption of a new flag part of our Wheeling 250 celebrations in 2019."
Not all cities have their own flags, and some people in the Ohio Valley still may be unfamiliar with the Wheeling flag, even though it is on display at the City-County Building, on the exterior of the 10th Street Parking Garage and in other locations.
"I honestly was unaware that the city even had a flag when I first took office," the mayor said. "But when I saw the flag in our archives, it was clear why its design (from the 1960s) never caught on. With its simple-yet-elegant design, our new flag has a much better chance at being adopted by the community at large in the years ahead."
Celebrating the recent accolades for the city flag, officials hope more people will embrace the banner. High-quality Wheeling city flags in different sizes are available for purchase in the Artisan Center Shop on the second floor at 1400 Main St.
"It’s my hope that this national recognition will motivate residents and businesses to purchase a flag and fly it with pride," Frey said. "Wheeling has a lot of major positive initiatives underway now, so there’s much to be proud of in the present time as well as in times past."
In the national survey by NAVA, more than 30 percent of the flags that were ranked received an A or a B grade. More than 60 percent got a D or an F, and the average grade among all ranked flags was a D-plus.
The highest-scoring flags generally embody the five basic principles listed in NAVA’s flag design guide, "’Good’ Flag, ‘Bad’ Flag." Those principles are: Keep it simple, use meaningful symbolism, use two or three basic colors, don’t use lettering or seals, and be distinctive or be related (in other words, avoid duplicating other flags, but use similarities to show connections).
"It’s wonderful to see the growing interest in flags across American cities," NAVA President Stan Contrades said. "The flag-studies community represented by NAVA is eager to provide cities considering new flags with resources that can help guide them as they choose new symbols."