Oregon City picks new flag inspired by municipal elevator and Willamette Falls

Oregon City residents may soon see a new city flag flying over municipal buildings as early as next month, nearly four decades after the current flag was adopted.

On Wednesday, the city’s five-member commission selected the new flag’s final design, which features the following elements:

• Upper white horizontal and vertical stripes that form the shape of the Oregon City Municipal Elevator while also evoking Indigenous fishing platforms
• A lower white stripe representing Willamette Falls
• A green stripe representing the McLoughlin Promenade
• A green square symbolizing the parks and town squares envisioned in the city’s original plat
• A blue field representing the confluence of the Willamette and Clackamas rivers

Oregon City’s current flag, adopted in 1989, features the city seal centered on a blue background, surrounded by a dozen stars. The flag is not flown over city buildings today.

The seal, topped by a bald eagle and enclosed within a blue oval bordered in gold, bears the words “1844” — the year of the city’s incorporation — and “City of Oregon City” at the top and the phrase “End of the Oregon Trail” at the bottom.

A golden ribbon held in the eagle’s beak displays “1829,” the year of the city’s establishment, and the Latin motto “Urbs Civitatis Nostrae Prima et Mater,” which roughly translates as “the first and foundational city of our state.”

Inside the oval is a forested landscape featuring a beaver, a fish and a covered wagon heading toward a river, where a ship sails beneath a rising sun. The scene is flanked by Oregon City founder John McLoughlin and an Indigenous woman holding a child.

Mayor Denyse McGriff said that when she served as Oregon City’s principal planner from 1988 to 1996, she already felt the flag “had too many things on it.”

“It was too busy,” she said. “And in my opinion only, there were some racist overtones with regard to how the Native American person on it was depicted.”

McGriff and the city commission launched the redesign effort last September, initially directing staff to develop both a new flag and a new city seal, before later focusing solely on the flag.

Following guidance from the North American Vexillological Association, the city conducted a poll from February to March asking residents which colors and symbols best represented Oregon City.

Based on more than 200 public responses, NAVA submitted two dozen flag designs for review in May by city staff and the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde to ensure the proposals were culturally appropriate. Staff then narrowed the field to three finalists and presented them to the public for comment in June. The day after the public comment period ended, the commission identified the elevator-inspired design as its preferred option.

But the effort did not end there.

After Commissioner Rocky Smith Jr., who also teaches art at Oregon City High School, suggested adjustments to the proportions and placement of the white stripe and green square, the commission directed staff to prepare several variations of the elevator-inspired design, including different color combinations, for consideration at its July 15 meeting.

“Let me just be frank, there was a little nitpicking going on,” McGriff laughed. “But it was good nitpicking.”

NAVA outlines five principles of good flag design: simplicity, meaningful symbolism, two to three colors, no lettering or seals, and distinctiveness. Using blue, green and white, Oregon City’s new flag shares the same color palette as those in several other cities in Oregon and Southwest Washington, including Portland, Silverton and Vancouver.

Related: Vancouver, Washington, adopts new city flag

McGriff said the new design is simple while still reflecting Oregon City’s unique identity, and she is not concerned that it could be confused with other city flags.

“We all have really good taste, and I think that our depiction is not what the other cities are depicted,” she said. “Somebody who’s not from our area will have to ask about the symbolism of each of the colors and what they represent, as I would do if I was in another city.”

An ordinance adopting the new flag is scheduled for first reading on Aug. 5 and second reading on Aug. 19. The city hopes to have a physical version of the flag ready by the time of final approval, though the production timeline remains uncertain.