The State Flag of Nevada

The Nevada State flag was first designed for $25 in a 1926 contest. It has a royal blue field with two sprays of sagebrush, the state flower in the upper left corner, a silver star and an unfurled golden banner with the words, "Battle Born." In the middle is the state name, the Spanish word for "snowclad," an allusion to the peaks of the Sierra Nevada mountains.

The contest

In 1926, the Lieutenant Governor held a contest to design a new state flag for the simple reason that the older version was too costly to reproduce. For a $25 prize, Louis Schellback III designed the new flag. What before was a colorful and ornate shield was now a much more simple design. In 1929, the state legislature adopted the flag.

Symbolism

The words "Battle Born" on the flag derive from the fact that the state was admitted to the Union during the American Civil War in 1864, making it the 36th state. The yellow sagebrush on the flag is the state flower. The word Nevada comes from the Spanish word that refers to the snowcapped mountain range. The five point silver star represents the rich mineral resources found in Nevada, especially the 1859 Comstock lode, one of the largest deposits of its kind. The blue color was initially the same color as the the United States flag, to represent Nevada's loyalty to the Union during the Civil War.

The Nevada state flag is rich with relevant symbolism and historical significance, and like many other state flags was created for a state contest.