Newtown’s Flagpole

Stands In ‘Celebration’

By Kendra Bobowick

The United States had adopted its Declaration of Independence even before winning eventual freedom. On July 4, 1776, the Revolutionary War still raged. Also developing at the time was this country’s flag — a symbol of freedom that had taken many forms before today’s 13 stripes and sea of stars was standardized. The American flag’s identity was still undetermined, explained Historian Daniel Cruson, even as the clash of British soldiers and American Patriots drew blood during the United States’ struggle for independence.

 “There is a real problem with the story of the flag,” he said, reflecting on the late 1700s when England sent in her troops to regain obedience from colonists. The Revolutionary War erupted and eventually drove off British forces by the 1780s.

But what were soldiers waving in war?

Existing at the time were a number of battle pennants and battle flags, but no official flag just yet. “[The flag] wasn’t standardized until the later years of the revolution,” Mr Cruson said.

History books and websites including gba.wavethemes.net provide a detailed chronology of the rearrangement of stars, stripes, and colors trading places. Stars attempted circular or linear themes while stripes were either vertical or horizontal before the flag finally settled into an upper left-hand sea of white stars against a blue background with the main flag using alternating red and white horizontal stripes.

From “Don’t Tread on Me” to Betsy Ross’s design that closely resembles today’s modern emblem, the flag changed appearance for decades and the versions counted into the hundreds.

One Revolutionary War era flag closely resembled the English flag, but carried the word “freedom” in white letters across a sea of red cloth.

In the mid 1770s the motto, “Don’t Tread on Me” accompanied by a snake was stitched onto many backdrops. This flag contained no stars or stripes.

A Sons of Liberty flag consisted of only red and white stripes either vertical or horizontal. The Sons of Liberty were a resistance group of colonists opposed to British policies such as the “Stamp Act,” which was another taxation inspiring rebellion in the colonies.

On June 14 (now celebrated annually as Flag Day) of 1777, a flag resolution was adopted, indicating that flags should have 13 alternating red and white stripes and a union of 13 stars. Lack of specific placements resulted in multiple combinations of stars, stripes, and “constellations.”

The Old Glory, or Betsy Ross’s flag, has the traditional red and white stripes and its stars form a white circle against the blue background.

The Star Spangled Banner — a 15-star and 15-stripe flag — was the name of a flag before it became the title of our national anthem. The song emerged from one man’s poetry during the war of 1812.

The flag’s evolving image saw the number of stars and stripes increase as states joined the Union. Eventually the stripe count remained at 13 as stars were added to recognize additional states.

Newtown’s  Flag

The most noted flag among surrounding towns flies above Route 25. Newtown’s flagpole is a landmark that has been struck by lightning, automobiles, and attacked by traffic safety experts who wanted to remove it from the center of the intersection where Church Hill Road meets Route 25.

Mr Cruson searched his memory for flag trivia and said, “It was struck by lightning at the base in 1912 and really shattered it.” The flagpole was damaged from roughly 15 feet above the ground upward. Two years later the Men’s Club “came up with” a replacement pole, he said.

In his book, A Mosaic of Newtown History, Mr Cruson often references the flagpole. Page 123 reveals, “There is no more precious landmark in town than its flagpole. Anyone who doubts this only has to review the furor which surrounded the recent attempt of the Department of Transportation to remove it from the intersection where it has stood for over 130 years.”

Mr Cruson’s book also explains the pole’s conspicuous placement — dead center in a main road.

“Colonial New England had a penchant for putting large structures, such as meeting houses, in the middle of their main streets…a church in the middle of the street is understandably strange. A flagpole, on the other hand, does not appear to have the same justification for its intrusive placement in the middle of the town’s major traffic flow.”

New England lore is just additional dressing for the deeper meaning behind the flagpole’s placement revealed in Mr Cruson’s book.

 “The reason for its placement has its origins in the very history of flag display…public display of the flag became a…virtual passion in the 19th century…public display of the flag demanded the most prominent place in the town, and for Newtown, the intersection at the center of the village is such a spot,” Mr Cruson writes.

The central location may not be the same spot that saw the town’s first flagpole as far as historical documentation reveals. Mr Cruson’s book references memories of an earlier town historian, Ezra Johnson. Mr Cruson writes, “The earliest memory of a public flagpole was that of Newtown’s Historian Ezra Johnson, who remembered that in his childhood a flagpole, or liberty pole…stood in front of the tavern of Ziba Blackman at the head of Main Street (this is now the Hillbrow House…at #74 Main Street.) It is believed this pole stood circa 1830 to 1840.”

The flagpole’s central location is also linked with celebration.

“The first of the Liberty Poles was meant to celebrate the first centennial,” Mr Cruson explained in a separate interview. The first Liberty Pole went up in 1876, referred to by Mr Cruson as the “first of a modern sequence of poles.”

In his book is the explanation, “A number of the town’s leading men had gotten together to determine how best to celebrate [the centennial]. A liberty pole was decided upon…the location of the pole in the middle of the street is a logical extension of the committee’s desire to place this centennial reminder in the most prominent place in the village…in the days of slower, horse drawn traffic, this position dominated without being a traffic hazard, and so the traditional flagpole-in-the-road was born.”

The pole’s deliberate placement was later questioned and even challenged by the state Department of Transportation. As far back as 1910, when members of the town’s Men’s Club had talked about moving the pole after it was struck by lightning in 1906. Six years later a severe storm in February of 1912 brought the pole crashing down. According to Mr Cruson’s writing, one year later in 1913 the state Highway Commissioner declared that since the roadway was a state street, the flagpole, a hazard, should be moved.

“Popular sentiment grew to the point that forced the Commissioner to relent,” and according to Mr Cruson’s book, and all remained quiet until 1947, when talks of replacing the wooden pole began. By 1950 a steel pole of roughly two tons was sunk approximately 11 feet at the base for support. In 1981 then-Newtown State Representative Mae Schmidle successfully introduced legislation to protect the flagpole’s position as a landmark.