The flag of Manhattan, Kansas, is a blue background with a green hillside shape in the bottom, with a white apple emerging from the hillside. It was titled "Little Apple of the Prairie".
Symbolism[]
The apple rising out of the hillside symbolizes the city’s progress and development as a land of opportunity, and recognizes Manhattan’s nickname as "The Little Apple."
The shape of the hillside is a reference to the gently rolling Flint Hills, and the green color represents the wealth of natural resources in the area.
- GREEN: fertility of the land, opportunity for growth, and the native grasses of the Flint Hills
- BLUE: The Big Blue and Kansas Rivers, peace, and the expansive sky over the prairie
- WHITE: Manhattan’s limitless future[1]
2022 NAVA survey[]
The flag scored 6.60 / 53rd out of 312, a B+ on the 2022 NAVA City Flag Survey, behind Sweetwater and ahead of Park City.
Former flag (2019)[]
The former flag of Manhattan, Kansas, is a white background with two borders, one purple and one green, with a red silhouette of an apple. It lasted some days in 2019, before the flag design contest.
First flag (2009-2019)[]
The first flag of Manhattan, Kansas, is a white background with a red apple next to the words "CITY OF" and "MANHATTAN" in black and green. Below it is a black line, and the word "KANSAS" in red. It was adopted in 2009, specifically September 25, 2009[2], and relinquished in 2019.
Other Flag Designs[]
There was a flag redesign contest to change Manhattan's city flag. There were a lot of submissions, but they were narrowed down to seven. That is until, Flag Design C, titled "Little Apple of The Prairie", and featuring the flag to what it is today, was picked. All symbolism of the six finalist flags can be found in this page.[3]
Flag Design A[]
The flag was titled "Ring of Stars", and consisted of a big yellow bar, and two blue bars on the top and bottom, separated by white fimbriations, and five white stars arranged in a ring pattern.
Flag Design B[]
The flag was titled "The Shining Star of the Prairie", and featured most of the current flag elements, except the hillside's outline is colored yellow, and replaces the apple with a white star on the charge.
Flag Design D[]
The flag was titled "Rolling Hills", and was divided between white with a half-yellow circle and five white stars, and green with the other half of the yellow circle divided into four stripes.
Flag Design E[]
The flag was titled "Sunflower", and consists of a yellow background with a white-outlined blue stripe, and eight yellow petals, and a purple center with a white apple inside.
Flag Design F[]
The flag was titled "Confluence", and also consists of a yellow background with two blue stripes forming a horizontal "V" shape, and five stars arranged in a ring pattern on the canton.
Flag Design G[]
It was titled "Heritage", and has the same yellow and blue bars from the first flag design submission, with the white outlines becoming thicker. On the center is a purple diamond with a thick white outline, and twelve diagonal squares forming six chevrons on the left and right of the diamonds.
