• Year First Flown: 1915
• Designed By: Lucy Derwen (original) and Mrs. Sanford Hutchinson (1969 alteration)
• Design: A white flag with a simplified version of the seal of Illinois placed in the middle. The seal contains a bald eagle holding a shield of 13 stars and 13 stripes, a ribbon with the state motto "State Sovereignty, National Unity" written on it, and a rock with the years 1868 and 1818 written on it. Behind the eagle is a body of water and the sun, and below the seal is the text "Illinois".
• Meaning: The seal of Illinois was greatly inspired by the United States Seal. The 13 stars and stripes of the Illinois seal represent the original 13 U.S. colonies. The body of water in the seal symbolizes Lake Michigan. The date 1818 represents the year that Illinois became a state, and the date 1868 is the year that the Illinois seal was redesigned.

In 1912, the Illinois Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) believed that their state needed an official flag. Ella Park Lawrence, the state regent, spent a lot of time campaigning for a state flag and lobbying members of the Illinois General Assembly. After years of hard work, on April 1st, 1914, Lawrence was finally able to announce a contest to design an Illinois state flag. The contest was open to all DAR members, and the winner would receive a prize of twenty-five dollars. A woman by the name of Lucy Derwen won the contest, and the flag became the official Illinois state flag on July 6th, 1915. The flag remained unchanged until the 1960s, when Chief Petty Officer Bruce McDaniel petitioned to have the name of the state added to the flag. McDaniel stated that while he served in the Vietnam War no one he knew recognized the flag as belonging to Illinois, so adding the state's name would help. Illinois Governor Richard B. Ogilvie authorized the addition to the flag on September 17th 1969. The flag's alteration was designed by Mrs. Sanford Hutchinson and officially became the Illinois state flag on July 1st, 1970.