Flag woven and made up by mill-workers at Manchester NH. Photograph by Harlan A. Marshall, as printed on page 411 of The National Geographic Magazine, October 1917.
Almost is an interesting word. It means nearly, pretty darn close but no cigar, not entirely, second place. It would have been easier for me to just stick with the story already out there–that in 1914 Manchester New Hampshire’s Amoskeag Mills created the world’s largest flag. I almost did. It almost was. But telling the truth seems more important than perpetuating the myth. That impressive American flag that I saw in photographs, hanging from the lofty brick mill building in Manchester was almost the largest in the world. Newspaper stories printed in countless newspapers between July and October of 1914, touting it as the greatest, were almost correct. Continue reading
