Batavia celebrates special connection to Flag Day

Communities across the suburbs and nation celebrated the Stars and Stripes with Flag Day ceremonies on Sunday, but Batavia had more reason than most to mark the occasion.

After all, it was onetime Batavia resident Bernard Cigrand who's widely credited with leading the first formal celebration of Flag Day nearly a century ago.

"Having the founder of Flag Day living here when it was founded is, I think, a significant historical event in the history of our town, and I think we should be very, very proud of that," Mayor Jeff Schielke said last week.

Cigrand was a 19-year-old teacher in a one-room schoolhouse in Fredonia, Wisconsin, when he proposed the idea of Flag Day in 1886, in a letter he wrote to the Chicago Argus newspaper. He continued to campaign for Flag Day in lectures, articles, books and by co-founding the American Flag Association.

He changed professions and became a dentist, and in 1912 opened a practice in Batavia. Four years later, President Woodrow Wilson joined Cigrand's cause and officially declared June 14 Flag Day.

Batavia celebrated Flag Day this year along with a cemetery walk and ice cream social. Members of the Batavia Arts Council and the Batavia Historical Society portrayed local historical figures at the West Side Cemetery.