Nebraska's flag incorporates the official seal of the state.
American states just love to designate official state symbols. The tradition began innocently enough. A person can understand why a state government might want an official state flag or an official seal, an official song or even a state bird. After all, the U.S. has the Stars and Stripes, a Great Seal of the United States, "The Star Spangled Banner" and the American bald eagle. Still, a cynic might accuse Nebraska and other states of going overboard. Nebraska's list far outstrips the basic flag, seal, anthem and bird. Its official symbols include a wide variety of people, places and things that matter to the state's history, economy, physical geography and environment.
State Flag and Official Seal
Nebraska's Great Seal incorporates several elements symbolizing the state's history and economy. The date at the bottom, March 1, 1867, refers to the date Nebraska achieved statehood. Inside the seal, a yellow scroll bears the state motto, "Equality Before the Law." The 1867 bill that created the seal included very specific instructions for its design. The law called for "a steamboat ascending the Missouri River, the mechanic arts to be represented by a smith with a hammer and anvil... agriculture to be represented by a settler's cabin, sheaves of wheat, and stalks of growing corn, in the background a train of cars heading towards the Rocky Mountains."
Nebraska's flag simply centers the seal on a blue background.
State Flora, Fauna and Geology
Like many states, Nebraska has designated a variety of plants and animals as official symbols. These include a state bird (western meadowlark), flower (goldenrod), grass (little bluestem), tree (cottonwood), mammal (whitetail deer), insect (honeybee) and fish (channel catfish).
The state also recognizes an official rock, prairie agate, which actually formed in more northerly states and washed down to Nebraska in rivers and streams. The official gemstone, blue agate, does originate within the state, and the official soil, Holdrege, supports farming in south-central Nebraska and northern Kansas.
State Songs
Nebraska has both an official state song and state ballad. The legislature adopted "Beautiful Nebraska" as the state song in 1967. The melody for the song came to its composer Jim Fras as he lay in a farmer's field, staring at the sky, and Fras later wrote its lyrics with his poet friend Guy G. Miller. The song closes with the lyric, "All these wonders by the Master's hand / Beautiful Nebraska land."
Governor Ben Nelson named Sol Kutler's "A Place Like Nebraska" as the state ballad in 1997. Its lyrics advise the state's citizens to "turn on your smile / tell them life is worthwhile / when you're bred and corn-fed in Nebraska."
Unusual Symbols
On top of the usual state birds, songs and seals, Nebraska officially recognizes some unusual symbols that define its identity. The state boasts a baseball capital (Wakefield) and an historic baseball capital (St. Paul), an official state beverage (milk) as well as an official soft drink (Kool-Aid, invented in Hastings in 1927). On the natural history front, the mammoth earned the title of official state fossil. Nebraska also honors its poets. In 1921, the legislature recognized John G. Neihardt as state poet laureate, and the governor named William Kloefkorn as state poet in 1982.
Tags: official state, baseball capital, Beautiful Nebraska, Great Seal, history economy, Nebraska flag, Nebraska state
