Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-06-14
OLD BRICK CAPITOL
GAVE j. S. ITS FLAG
Place Where Congress Met to
Make Over National En-
bIem to Be Raced.
BY FRANK w. HUTCHINS.

Of course it was in Philadelphia that
our national flag was first designed and
created. All honor to the Quaker City
and (for the story is too pretty to
doubt the nimble fingers of Betsy Ross.
But WashingtonianS should not forget
that later the little Capital on the
Potomac had to do the job all over.
1t was this way. That first legally
established flag of 1777 consisted of 10
stripes, alternately red and white, and
IS white stars in canton of blue. A
beautifully appropriate emblem while
the number of States remained l3. But
soon other States were added to the
Union. Now what to do? Congress
enacted that new star and new
stripe should be added to the flag upon
the admission of each new State.
That proved impracticable. 1t soon
led to more stripes than the flag could
effectively carry. And, no telling how
many more yet to crowd on. The nat
observed. Flags of varying numbers
of stripes were floating everywhere
even over Government buildings. The
national banner had come to be almost
anything that was red, white and blue.
Nations Flag Reshaped.
Such was the situation when Uncle
Sam moved from Philadelphia to his new
seat of Government on the Potomac.
1t was there, in little Washington City,
that he faced the difficulty and re-
shaped the flag.
That was in 1918. The act Of Con-
gress declared that thereafter the num-
Der of stripes should be the original
13, but the number of stars always to
equal the number of States. That is
the flag law under which we live today.
But all that does not half tell the
story for this particular Flag day in
Washington. This one has peculiar
significance.
On the corner of First and A streets
northeast stands a great gray building
of out-of-date dignity in the midst
of tree grown gardens We all know
it as the "Old Brick Capitol" Its
genuinenesS as the one time home of
Congress, though at times questioned,
has recently been thoroughly estab-
lished Greatly changed in the pass
ing of a century, it still rightly wears
its honors and its bronze tablet. But
it stands today condemned, empty,
awaiting destruction to make room for
the new Supreme Court Building. This
is the last Flag day that will see any
vestige of the old structure left. What
of all that?
Well, it was in this "Old Brick Cap.
lIOl JHdJ congress was SIJJlUR WIleIl
it made over our national flag.
Banner Is Unfurled.
Tired of flying all sorts of banners
Is stripes. Is stripes, 10 stripes-this
little Capitol on the corner ended the
confusion. A flag was at once made in
accordance with the new law. 1t was
the work Of a Revolutionary soldiers
daughter So, all unheralded and I'M
sung, a new Betsy Ross! The flag was
at once unfurled from the peak of the
roof over Congress.
At last national emblem symbolizing
simply and beautifully our origin and
our growth. Those changeless few
stripes, the little commemorative that
won our independence; those ever
mounting stars, the growing galaxy Of
States united to preserve it.
And, peculiarly significant today, that
this perfected flag of our country was
designed, declared and first flung to the
world by that doomed odd Brick
Capitol"