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Hamtramck, Michigan (U.S.)

Wayne County

image by Masao Okazaki, 15 May 2022
based on photo located by Jan Mertens, 20 March 2009
Source: eBay

Description of the flag
Seal

See also:

Description of the Flag

Hamtramck, a city in SE Michigan, almost completely surrounded by Detroit. In this flag the city seal figures largely. Executed in blue (rim, various elements) and white (background), it shows a worker bearing a large hammer on his shoulder, ascending steps, receiving a laurel crown from a classical figure bearing a torch (it seems); in the lower right part of the seal is placed a huge gearwheel while open spaces in the background are filled up by structures suggesting or directly showing industry (factory chimneys). Inside the rim appears the name "CITY OF HAMTRAMCK WAYNE CO. MICHIGAN". The flag itself is blue bearing a yellow horizontal stripe upon a very broad grey one, fimbriated white, widening in the centre to encompass the seal (which itself is fimbriated white); two very thin blue stripes run parallel to the yellow stripe, themselves also fimbriated white.

This city webpage shows the seal on a photo and as a drawing: www.hamtramck.us/government/council/pages/index.php. The City Clerk - keeper of the seal - is seen here with the national, state, and city flags: www.hamtramck.us/government/departments/clerk/pages/index.php.

A nice find - apparently concerning a previous flag - is this Google Book quote (skip to p. 123 of 'Hamtramck. The Driven City' by G. Kowalski): books.google.com/books?spell=1&hl=nl&q=%22hamtramck%3A+the+driven+city%22.
"As part of the program [50th anniversary of incorporation, Apr 1972, jm], Mayor Wojtowicz unveiled Hamtramck's first official flag. Designed by St. Ladislaus student Michael Balabuch, the flag features the city seal on a silver and white background. The silver was especially significant because it implied steel, the stuff of the auto industry, which made modern Hamtramck."

Mainly settled by Quebec French, Hamtramck became a township in 1798 and was named after "a French Revolutionary War hero, Colonel Jean Francois Hamtramck (1756-1803)". The auto industry mentioned above refers to Dodge; many people of Polish descent live there.

Jan Mertens, 20 March 2009

This city has at least 2 different versions of its flag. One version is shown on this photo and appears in photos of city council members: https://hamtramck.us/city-council/
It has been drawn for Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_Hamtramck,_Michigan.svg

Another version with a different seal appears in a photo on the city's Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/404436276329505/photos/pb.100064785066368.-2207520000../2250640115042436/?type=3
It also appears in this article (about the flag's history and the city selling flags) with pink instead of gray: http://www.thehamtramckreview.com/fly-your-hamtramck-flag-high/
A vector image of this version of the flag appears on the city's Facebook page but uses a different typeface: https://www.facebook.com/404436276329505/photos/pb.100064785066368.-2207520000../3984419538331143/?type=3

Above is my drawing of the second version to resemble the photos and the Facebook image.

Masao Okazaki, 15 May 2022

Seal

image located by Paul Bassinson, 9 September 2019

Source: https://www.hamtramck.us/
Paul Bassinson, 9 September 2019