Oregon City's new flag celebrates a landmark found nowhere else in North America

Oregon City’s new flag marks a municipal milestone by centering the city’s Municipal Elevator, a feature described as unique in North America. After a months-long process, the Oregon City Commission voted unanimously this month to adopt the design. The flag uses two intersecting white lines that divide a blue field in the upper right and a green field in the lower left, with the lines forming an outline of the 130-foot elevator on Singer Hill Bluff. City staff and residents shaped the design through public “flag poll” surveys that drew more than 230 responses in February and March, and 65 responses for a second round. Willamette Falls, the end of the Oregon Trail, and the elevator were among leading symbols, and feedback also involved a representative of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde. The old 1989 flag is criticized in vexillology as an “SOB” seal-on-a-bedsheet concept.