The Mystery Of Michigan's Missing County Flags Created In 1941

Drive around any town and you won't need to travel far to see an American flag. You'll see plenty of state flags, particularly on municipal buildings. But city or even more rare - country flags. Those are indeed rare sights.

Surprisingly each Michigan county - all 83 of 'em - had a flag made for them uniquely designed and crafted in 1941. Today they're all but forgotten and nearly all lost.

It wasn't the state but rather major Detroit area retailer JL Hudson that designed and created each flag. It happened in 1941 with a committee from each county approving the designs.

A flag enthusiast website, Flags of the World, which complies flags from local municipalities notes

the J.L. Hudson Company of Detroit produced and then presented flags for every county in Michigan in 1941. Extensive research was done on the counties to ensure appropriate symbolism on their flags. All flags made for the counties were 5 by 8 feet and made of silk. Each flag has its county name on it. A committee in each county was also appointed by the company to identify and recommend the group to receive the county flag; these were presented to the designated group in the summer of 1941.

What happened to all 83 special county flags? No one knows. A Wikipedia page dedicated to local Michigan flags says of the 83 only the flag for Ingham County has been found.

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There's little else to be found about the Michigan County flags anywhere else online. A pay-walled article from the Houghton Lake Resorter from 2106 asks the question of what happened to the Roscommon County flag from 1941.

The Lansing-area Ingham County flag made by the Hudson Company shows the county name and something symbolic in the center. In the case of Ingham, it was the state capitol dome.

What happened to the other 82 county flags? Maybe lost? Destroyed? Stolen? Forgotten in storage?

They're most likely forever lost to winds in which they once flapped.