The once and future flag: How a neglected symbol of Des Moines is making a comeback thanks to one local family

When Callanan Middle School teacher Gerald LaBlanc, along with his seventh-grade class, petitioned the city to hold a contest that would determine a new city flag in 1974, he could have only dreamed of Emily and Mason Kessinger. 

The Des Moines couple has become the city's biggest boosters of its long-neglected flag, designed by a local publisher Walter Proctor who won LaBlanc's contest in 1974.

With recent pop-ups across the city and marketing of the flag on their online shop, where a variety of flag-emblazoned merchandise is available, the husband-and-wife duo are on a mission to restore the Des Moines flag to a glory that was never fully realized. 

From almost the moment it was adopted by the city, the flag's adherents have complained about the neglect it faced from the city and how it failed to properly promote it as a symbol of the city. 

In October 1975, before Proctor left Iowa for Texas, he told the Register that he was "disappointed we aren't doing much" with his red, white and blue Des Moines flag emblazoned by the three iconic arched bridges.

Proctor was not the only one to protest the lack of attention the flag was being paid. LaBlanc took up the crusade of chiding the city on the lack of flags being displayed as often as he could. 

"Probably one in 100 citizens could recognize the flag," LaBlanc told the Register in March of 1976, a year after the flag had been raised at City Hall for the first time. "As it stands now, there seems to be a lack of leadership in promoting the flag," 

An article in the Des Moines Tribune concerning that year's Flag Day quoted amateur flag enthusiast and Des Moines resident Philip Hockett as saying the Des Moines flag "hasn't had much acceptance, but it hasn't had much rejection either," citing that no one had really seen it. 

In a 2004 Register article noting the thirtieth anniversary of the Des Moines flag's adoption, LaBlanc was quoted again about the city's poor flag representation. Residents quoted in the article claimed to be unaware of the flag's existence at all.

Four years later, in 2008, the Des Moines flag designed by Proctor was quietly phased out of official use by the city as they turned to a flag that featured a logo comprised of the city's skyline and the blue arches incorporated in newer bridges throughout the city. 

The flag has endured since then, flown by the citizens that remember it, like those who lined the streets for Gov. Robert Ray's funeral procession after his death in 2018. But the past decade has seen it wiped away from all official government buildings and imagery.

The Kessingers feel that the flag was never given its due. In response, they're waging an all-out campaign to restore the flag and make it the symbol of a united Des Moines that it never truly became. 

"There's a lot of reasons why we do this," Emily Kessinger said, "It's for the sort of historic, cultural preservation of Des Moines. It's the design. We're a city of bridges and a city that's united by bridges in a lot of ways, those represent the bridges at Grand, Locust and Walnut, but they represent bridges in general, which are all over the city."

The flag's creator would agree. "It occurred to me that the bridges in the design are an excellent unifying symbol for all the people in Des Moines," Proctor told the Register in 1993. 

The dream for the flag is for it to become just that: a unifying symbol for the residents in Des Moines. The couple plans to achieve this by getting it out in front of as many eyes as possible, making the image go viral through grassroots promotion in public and on social media.

Emily Kessinger also has a special connection to the flag and LaBlanc. As a Des Moines native and graduate of Roosevelt High School, she remembers the flag flown throughout her childhood and her mother, Sarah Betts, was a 12-year-old student in the class that sold the city on the flag contest. 

The couple sees the flag in use today as a poor alternative and suspects it was brought about in an attempt to avoid having to reconcile the 1974 flag with the planned demolition of the arched bridges that cross the Des Moines River. Research into city council minutes and other resources revealed little about the flag's change or the impetus behind it, according to the couple. 

Emily Kessinger reached out to Des Moines Mayor Frank Cownie to see if he could confirm which flag was truly the "official flag" of Des Moines. According to her, the city clerk held up the skyline logo when Cownie asked to see Des Moines' flag. Messages left for Cownie for this story were not returned.

"To us, the biggest thing is, a logo is not a flag," Emily Kessinger said. "It's a quick solution for a city that — for whatever reason, on what seems like a whim to me — decided to change the flag."

The mission to restore the flag, one they feel they can be proud of as Des Moines residents, is personal for the Kessinger family. The couple owns a house off Fleur Drive and host salons featuring artists and music in their home. They just welcomed their first son, Hughes, only a few months ago. 

"I've spent time in D.C. and Chicago, I was really impressed by the flags and the way the people supported them," Mason Kessinger said. "Then I came here and realized we had a cool symbol, I felt emboldened to want to bring that image to a broader audience because we're trying to modernize so much. Branding and marketing is paramount to any business or city anymore, so I think it's a powerful tool for us."

The goal for the family is not to spend the rest of the time making and selling flag apparel, which they eagerly admit they are doing at a loss financially, but to help promote a symbol of the city's identity. 

Their campaign is gaining traction. At least one city councilman, Josh Mandelbaum, has said that he will fly the 1974 Des Moines flag Friday on the country's 134th Flag Day. He's also shared lapel pins purchased from the Flag of Des Moines shop with other council members. Though there are no current plans to officially restore Proctor's flag, he claimed he would be in support of it.

To celebrate Flag Day, the Kessingers are partnering with Confluence Brewery on a special event to promote the once and future Des Moines flag. From 4 to 8 p.m. Friday, the local brewery will be selling cans of its Des Moines IPA with special flag branding.

Though he died in 2018, Gerald LaBlanc is finally seeing his wish fulfilled in the Kessingers, the leaders who are willing to promote the Des Moines flag and turn it into a symbol for a united city. 

Follow the Register on Facebook and Twitter for more news. Aaron Calvin can be contacted at acalvin@dmreg.com or on Twitter @aaronpcalvin.