Did you know: St. Louis was founded February 14, 1764, but didn't get it's official flag until two hundred years later??? Apparently, it was well worth the wait. In a 2020 Twitter contest called the "March Madness of Flags," the St. Louis city flag was voted the best flag in the world, beating out a final four that also included Barbados, Stuttgart, and Yaroslavl Oblast.
This beautiful (and widely appreciated) flag was designed by Yale University professor Theodore Sizer and officially adopted in 1964.
Apparently, in the 1950s many citizens began advocating for the adoption of a new St. Louis flag. Charles Nagel, a St. Louis architect who was particularly critical of the old design, approached Theodore Sizer, an art history professor at Yale University (an non-St. Louisan), about constructing a new one. Sizer traveled to St. Louis and created the current flag layout, which has been the official flag of St. Louis since 1964. But what does the flag mean you may wonder? Here's what you need to know in case it ever comes up in a trivia contest. ;-)
The flag blue and white wavy lines extending from the left top and bottom corners toward left center where they join and continue as one symbolizes the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers.
Over the point of confluence a round golden disk upon which is the fleur-de-lis of France (blue) calling attention to the French background of the early City and more particularly to St. Louis of France for whom the City is named.
The golden disk represents the City and/or the Louisiana Purchase. (Heraldically, the disk is a "bezant" or Byzantine coin signifying, money or simply purchase.)
The flag's colors reflect those of Spain (red and yellow or gold), Bourbon France (white and gold), Napoleonic and Republican France (blue, white and red), and the United States of America (red, white, and blue).
Now you know. :-)