Adopted in 1913. Three equal horizontal bands of red, white and blue from top to bottom with the state emblem centered. Twenty-four stars surround the coat-of-arms, representative of Missouri's position as the 24th state admitted to the Union. Prior to 1913, no state flag existed for Missouri. A state flag design was considered by the Daughters of the American Revolution in 1908. Committee member Mrs. Marie Elizabeth Oliver, wife of Senator Robert Burett Oliver, and a resident of Cape Girardeau, designed the flag herself, and on March 17, 1909, a bill supporting the design was introduced to the Missouri Senate. It took three years and several attempts before the bill for the "Oliver flag" was finally passed.