Today, the Hawaii State Quarter Coin remembers the formal event of 56 years ago when Hawaii became the 50th state.
On August 21, 1959, the Dubuque, Iowa Telegraph-Herald printed the following article.
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It’s Official Now–Hawaii 50th State
Ike Signs Statehood Document
Washington (AP) — Hawaii became a state today and President Eisenhower unveiled a new 50-star flag.
The new flag will have nine rows of stars. They will be arranged in alternate rows of six and five stars each, starting and ending with lines of six.
The 49-star flag, including the star for Alaska had seven staggered rows of seven stars each.
The new banner will take the place of the 49-star flag which became official only last July 5. The 49-star emblem, to provide for Alaska, has a blue field of seven staggered rows of seven stars each. It supplanted the 47-year-old 48-star flag which had six even rows of eight stars each.
Soon after the Hawaiian proclamation, the government will put on sale a special 7-cent air mail stamp commemorating the event.
The signing also will be the signal for Governor William F. Quinn, a Republican elected as the state’s first governor last July 28, to take the oath in Honolulu, capital of the new state.
Quinn will then notify Washington of his certification of the election last month of Hawaii’s first congressional delegation in time for the two senators and one representative to take their oaths here Monday.
The two senators are Hiram I. Fong, 52-year-old Republican of Chinese descent, and Oren F. Long, 70-year-old Democrat and former territorial governor. The House member is Daniel K. Inouye, 34-year-old Democrat of Japanese parentage, who lost an arm fighting with the 442nd Regimental Combat Team in Italy in World War II.
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The Hawaii State Quarter Coin shows with an aerial, modern-day view of Honolulu.
