It’s easy to pinpoint the first time the American flag flew from atop a public school in Farmington and the first time the Pledge of Allegiance was ever recited here.

In Farmington and across the country, these hallmarks of patriotism can trace their origins to Columbus Day in 1892. While pledging allegiance to the flag has become a part of most children’s school day, the origins of these traditions are as full of contradictions and surprises as America itself.

The year 1892 marked the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’ voyage to the New World, and Americans celebrated with demonstrations of national pride and patriotism. Francis Bellamy fell in line with the nation’s sentiments when he planned a school program on behalf of the National Education Association. The program included a flag-raising ceremony and a pledge of allegiance and was published in a popular magazine called Youth’s Companion just a few weeks before the big event.

Schools across the country embraced the idea, and it is estimated that on that Columbus Day of 1892 more than 12 million school children recited this pledge for the first time.

Farmington students were very much a part of this phenomenon, and primary students here also witnessed the beginnings of another tradition. On the morning of Columbus Day, they watched as a new American flag was raised above their school building. The use of flags in public schools was also the result of a promotion by Youth’s Companion magazine, which had sold some 26,000 of them to American schools between 1888 and 1892.

After the flag-raising, school children of all ages joined Wheeler’s Band for a high-stepping parade that marched its way around downtown and ended at the Music Hall (now Reny’s Department Store) on Broadway. Young parade participants entered the Hall in practiced military formation and spectators followed.

The program drew an astonishing 800 spectators. As townspeople stood crowded into the Hall decorated with “bunting, flags and pictures of prominent military commanders” and listened to the words “I pledge allegiance” they couldn’t know they were witnessing the beginnings of a tradition. They also didn’t know that Bellamy, the author of the pledge, was a committed socialist, or that he had wanted to include the word “equality” in his pledge, but had refrained, knowing that the National Education Association was opposed to equality for women and blacks. They didn’t know that the words “under God” would be added to what had been an entirely secular pledge.

Luann Yetter has researched and written a history column for the Sun Journal for the past 10 years. She teaches writing at the University of Maine at Farmington and can be reached at [email protected].