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Stadskanaal (The Netherlands)

Groningen province

Shipmate Flagchart : http://www.flagchart.net
adoption date: unknown. Design: Stichting Banistiek en Heraldiek.

Stadskanaal municipality
Stadskanaal old villageflag

See also:

Stadskanaal municipality

Population (1 Jan 2003): 33.711; area: 120,00 km²; settlements: Stadskanaal (seat), Alteveer, Barlage, Blekslage, Braamberg, Ceresdorp, Höchte, Holte, Horsten, Kopstukken, Mussel, Musselkanaal, Onstwedde, Oomsberg, Smeerling, Sterenborg, Ter Maarsch, Ter Wupping, Veenhuizen, Vledderhuizen, Vledderveen, Vosseberg, Wessinghuizen.
In 1969 the former municipality of Ontstwedde was renamed Stadskanaal, after the largest settlement.
Stadskanaal is the name of a canal and a municipality in southeast Groningen. The 'city canal' used to transport peat from southeast Groningen and Drenthe to Groningen city. The whole landscape is riddled with long, very straight canals, which is reflected in the municipal flag.
Jarig Bakker, 14 November 1999

Stadskanaal old villageflag

image by Jarig Bakker, 14 Aug 2003

Stadskanaal is a relatively new municipality in Groningen province in the Netherlands. During the municipal reorganization of 1969 the municipality of Onstwedde was renamed Stadskanaal, after the largest settlement. Onstwedde did not have a flag, but it did have a Coat of Arms, which became the Coat of Arms of the new municipality. The "Stichting Banistiek en Heraldiek" designed a new flag.

However Stadskanaal already had a local flag. Description: Diagonally divided red and yellow, with a narrow blue dividing line; on the red part a white jumping horse.
This was a semi-official local flag: Stadskanaal was part of two municipalities: Ontstwedde and Wildervank. Two local societies (Commissie Verfraaiing Stadskanaal, and Algemene Handelsvereniging) adopted a design in May 1960. The red part symbolizes the hard work in the peat-industry (which also occurs in the Coat of Arms of Wildervank); the fertile cornfields (cornsheaves occur on the Coat of Arms of Onstwedde) have been represented by the yellow field. The diagonal blue line points at the system of canals characterizing the "Veenkoloniën" (peat-colonies), especially Stadskanaal. The white Saxon horse symbolizes activity, power and pride of the region, of which Stadskanaal is the center.
Source: Sierksma's Nederlands Vlaggenboek, 1962 [sie62]
Note: Stadskanaal is the name of the place, but also of the canal running through the place, all the way to "Staad", which is Groningen city.
Jarig Bakker, 14 Aug 2003