Flag
ACUITY raised the tallest flagpole in the United States on July 2, 2005. The steel pole is 338 feet (103 m) high, 6 feet (1.8 m) wide at the base, weighs 65 tons (without the flag), and is sunk into a 550-ton block of concrete that is 40 feet (12 m) deep, 8 feet (2.4 m) wide and reinforced by steel rods. The flag is 120 feet (37 m) by 60 feet (18 m), or 7,200 square feet (670 m²). Each star is 3 feet (0.91 m) high and each stripe is 4½ feet wide. It weighs 300 pounds. This flag and flagpole outdid an earlier Acuity record, a flag raised June 2, 2003, atop a 150-foot (46 m) flagpole. Oddly enough, the new flagpole is actually a replacement; the old pole toppled over due to stress and high winds, almost falling onto nearby Interstate 43. The new flagpole is designed with extra bracing and placed much farther from the highway. A powered hoist raises the flag at 80 feet (24 m) per minute, regardless of wind conditions, and is synchronized so that the flag reaches the top of the pole just as the Star Spangled Banner ends. On October 4, 2007 it was announced that the flag pole would yet again be rebuilt to allow access to the beacon marker on top in case of light bulb replacement. The flag was rebuilt and the top section finished on April 4, 2008. On April 7, 2008 the pole, without a flag yet flying, began swaying noticeably during relatively low wind speeds. On April 8, 2008 the ball and top section were again removed.
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Famous quotes containing the word flag:
“There’s an enduring American compulsion to be on the side of the angels. Expediency alone has never been an adequate American reason for doing anything. When actions are judged, they go before the bar of God, where Mom and the Flag closely flank His presence.”
—Jonathan Raban (b. 1942)
“Swift blazing flag of the regiment,
Eagle with crest of red and gold,
These men were born to drill and die.
Point for them the virtue of slaughter,
Make plain to them the excellence of killing
And a field where a thousand corpses lie.”
—Stephen Crane (1871–1900)
“Hath not the morning dawned with added light?
And shall not evening call another star
Out of the infinite regions of the night,
To mark this day in Heaven? At last, we are
A nation among nations; and the world
Shall soon behold in many a distant port
Another flag unfurled!”
—Henry Timrod (1828–1867)