Annin Flagmakers history

Annin Flagmaker, on the forefront of technology, then as it is today, made the sewing machine, invented in 1846, a standard piece of flag-making equipment.

Founded in 1847 and headquartered in Roseland, New Jersey, Annin is America’s oldest and largest flag manufacturer.

In 1849, Annin-made American flags were flown at the inauguration of President Zachary Taylor, starting an inaugural tradition that has continued through the inauguration of President George W. Bush.

In 1865 Annin Flagmaker experienced its first big surge in business when the Civil War ignited the fires of patriotism in the American populace.

The opening ceremonies of the Brooklyn Bridge in 1883

Dettra Flag Company had been Annin’s largest commercial competitor since its inception in 1902.

In 1910 Annin Flagmaker relocated to 5th Avenue and 16th Street, a location that later came to be known as ‘Old Glory Corner". Increased demand for American flags coincided with our country’s industrial revolution in the latter part of the 19th century.

Despite technological advances, the Verona plant, built in 1916, remains the heart and soul of the company, where custom-made flags—American, state and any one of thousands of custom designs—are crafted by hand.

It was an Annin-made flag that Marines raised atop Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima in 1945, memorialized in a classic Associated Press photograph.

Flag Store USA has been a family run business since 1971.

The anti-Viet Nam War sentiment during the turbulent period of the late sixties and early seventies made those years lean ones for United States flag sales but America’s Bicentennial in 1976 brought Old Glory back stronger than ever.

The design and inception of the POW-MIA flag in 1979 in conjunction with the National League of Families of POW/MIA

11, 2001, when firemen raced to a nearby marina and grabbed a ship's American flag to raise over the rubble of the World Trade Center.

On January 1, 2011 Carter Beard became the President and CEO of Annin Flagmaker.

Award Winner: CorporateHistory.net’s Annin Flagmakers: An Illustrated History won a 2014 Apex Award of Excellence for One-of-a-Kind Custom Publications.