“A seventh-grader from Seward designed the STAR PATTERN on Alaska’s state flag in 1926.”

National Geographic Kids, 2015, 5,000 AWESOME FACTS

I really like this fact because it is quite endearing, and one I really didn’t know until I started researching all these facts I found in the book that I picked up when on an adventure with Charley Waffle.

Thirty two years before Alaska became a state, a contest was held in 1927 for Alaskan Children to design a flag for their territory which in turn the winner became the flag for their state in 1959. Before that Alaska had flown the American Flag. Barry Benson, who was 13 years old and lived in an orphanage in Seward came up with the design by looking into the sky at night for inspiration. He came up with the Great Dipper and the North Star. His entry included this inscription;

“The blue field is for the Alaska sky and the Forget-Me-Not, an Alaskan flower. The North Star is for the future state of Alaska, the most northerly in the union. The Dipper is for the Great Bear, symbolizing strength.”

He was awarded $1,000 dollars, worth $17,535 today, and a trip to Washington D.C. and an engraved watch.

He has a legacy includes a mountain, Mount Benson, that was named after him, and Benson Boulevard in midtown Anchorage. The Benny Benson Memorial is located 1.4 mile of the Seward Highway in Seward, Alaska.

In Kodiak Alaska, an airport was named “Kodiak Benny Benson State Airport”, and the Benny Benson School in Anchorage is an “alternative school serving educational needs for students who have been deemed at risk and is part of the Anchorage School District SEARCH program.”

He was born on Sept. 12, 1912, and passed on July 2, 1972 at the age of 59 in Kodiak Alaska. His occupations include Flag designer and airplane mechanic.