When Robert Levers read the Declaration of Independence in Centre Square on July 8, 1776, a flag was on view.
We know this because a Philadelphia newspaper reported a standard, "the device for which is the Thirteen United Colonies," was displayed. That flag is believed to be the one on exhibit in the Marx Room at the .
Precise dating of the flag has long been the subject of controversy and historical research. Locally, it is believed that the women of Easton actually made the flag for the reading of the Declaration.
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Supporting this is the apparently hurried construction of the flag. Careful examination shows that each of the thirteen, eight-pointed stars is slightly different from the others, suggesting each was made by a different hand. The unmatched fabrics are pieced together: the stripes are grosgrain and the field is India silk.
The indigo blue field is in two pieces, and the stripes were pieced together, the white stripes showing more patching than the red.
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Documents trace the flag to 1814 when it was presented to Captain Abraham Horn's Company as they left for service in the War of 1812. However, the flag’s 13-star pattern and the reversal of the stars and stripes suggest it predates the Congressional flag resolution of 1777 and is a Revolutionary relic.
Further evidence for that claim may be the portrait "George Washington at Princeton" painted by Charles Willson Peale in 1779. In the background of the painting are troops flying a flag identical in design to the Easton flag. Did Peale choose this standard for its Revolutionary origins?
The Easton Library Company was entrusted with the flag in 1821. In 1926 it was removed from its pole, placed between two pieces of plate glass, and framed for exhibition. The flag was first displayed on the east wall of the marble stairway in the front entrance to the Carnegie building and eventually moved to the Marx Room. Earlier this year, we realized that the flag was showing the stress of hanging and commissioned the building of a display case. The new case was designed and constructed by R. S. Hahn and Sons of Easton, who then donated the case to the Library.
The flag may be seen in the Marx Room from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Saturdays. The Marx Room is closed from noon to 1:00 for lunch.