Sumpter Clerk explains 48-star American flag now in shadowbox

At the Feb. 22 meeting of the Sumpter Township Board of Trustees, Clerk Esther Hurst read a prepared statement explaining the background of an American flag from 1912 that was now in a shadowbox on the rear wall of the meeting room.
She said in 2018 clerk’s office employee Dawn Hadyniak found the flag in a plastic bag in a box in the storage garage and safeguarded it for four years.
Clerk Hurst said in mid-2021, the clerk’s office started researching display boxes for the flag and found the price was very high for what was considered bad quality and was not readily available.
In October, they began discussing the shadow box project with Randy Lynch and Michael Petrowski of the Department of Public Works. They designed the shadow box and in November they picked out the oak, plexiglass, and display backer board.
Hadyniak and Maryann Watson discussed the backer fabric and the color and placed the order. Upholstery class instructor Wanda Watkins nipped and tucked the fabric onto the shadowbox backer board. The shadowbox and dedication document frame were completed on Feb. 16.
The dedication explains that this flag was in service on July 4, 1912 and retired on July 3, 1959. The 48 stars on the flag represented the states at that time and the 13 stripes represented the original 13 colonies.
The dedication lists the eight presidents of the United States who served during those years and dedicates the flag to Sumpter Township, its citizens, and the township board. The dedication was signed by Clerk Esther L. Hurst and the clerk’s office.