Windsor NewsFor the people, For the city.
The Rose City rose. A nod to Windsor's City of Roses nickname. Original artwork by Windsor News.
Rose City Roots · Flags over Windsor
France, Britain, the United States and Canada have all flown flags over this river. The Nations were here first and are here now. Here are the flags in order, with the years each one flew and where we found the facts.
1701 to 1760
The plain white flag of the French navy flew over forts like Pontchartrain at Detroit. French farm families settled la Petite Côte from 1749.
Sources: Canadian Heritage; Encyclopedia of French Cultural Heritage in North America
Drawn by Windsor News. Public domain design.
1701 to 1760
The king’s gold fleurs-de-lis on blue. There was no official flag of New France; these were the two French flags of the time. A fleur-de-lis is still on Windsor’s 1992 coat of arms.
Sources: Canadian Heritage; Governor General, Public Register of Arms
Drawn by Windsor News. Public domain design.
1760 to 1801
Britain held both shores from 1760, confirmed by the Treaty of Paris in 1763. This flag flew when Sandwich was laid out in 1796 and 1797.
Sources: Canadian Encyclopedia; Rose City Roots, The French Shore and Sandwich chapters
Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
1760 to 1801
The merchant flag on river ships. Every Canadian Red Ensign, and Ontario’s flag today, grew from it.
Sources: Canadian Encyclopedia, Canadian Red Ensign
Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
1796 to 1812, and 1813 to 1815
Over Detroit from 11 July 1796, when the river became a border. General Hull brought it into Sandwich on 12 July 1812. US troops held this shore from October 1813 to July 1815.
Sources: Rose City Roots, War on the River; Parks Canada, Fort Malden history
Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
1801 to 1965, and still official
Upper Canada (1791 to 1841) and the Province of Canada (1841 to 1867) never had flags of their own. This was their flag: the flag of 1812, of the 1838 Battle of Windsor, and the flag freedom seekers crossed the river toward.
Sources: Canadian Heritage; Governor General, Royal Union Flag 1801; Parliament of Canada, 18 December 1964
Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
about 1870 to 1921
Canada’s unofficial flag through the Border Cities’ growth and the First World War. Official for Canadian ships from 2 February 1892.
Sources: Canadian Encyclopedia; Canadian Heritage
Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
1922 to 1957
The Canadian flag of the Second World War, when Windsor’s Essex Scottish landed at Dieppe. On federal buildings in Canada from 5 September 1945.
Sources: Canadian Heritage; Canadian Encyclopedia
Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
1957 to 1965
The maple leaves on the shield turned red on 8 October 1957. The ensign came down for good on 15 February 1965.
Sources: Canadian Heritage timeline
Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
15 February 1965 to today
Proclaimed by the Queen on 28 January 1965. George Stanley’s idea; the 11 point leaf was drawn by Jacques St-Cyr.
Sources: Canadian Heritage, The history of the National Flag of Canada
Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
21 May 1965 to today
When Canada changed flags, Ontario kept a Red Ensign. It is a straight line back to the British merchant flag of 1707.
Sources: Ontario Flag Act; Legislative Assembly of Ontario
Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
From the 1891 election to the Second World War, the Union Flag and the Red Ensign sold causes, loans and enlistment. All of these posters are public domain.
22 March 1971 to today
Blue for the river, a white band, the City crest and a rose: the City of Roses behind the name Rose City Roots. Designed by Hector Lacasse, a flag expert and former mayor of Tecumseh. Crest by John Jaciw.
Sources: City of Windsor, Visual Identity Standards Policy; John M. Purcell, Canadian City Flags (Raven 18, 2011)
An official mark of the City of Windsor. Shown here only with the City’s permission.
granted 8 May 1992
Our history in heraldry: a fleur-de-lis, a belt of wampum, Loyalist coronets, a locomotive wheel, a steamboat wheel, a car wheel, tomatoes and corn. The motto: The River and the Land Sustain Us.
Sources: Governor General, Public Register of Arms, City of Windsor (Vol. II, p. 160); Canada Gazette, 25 July 1992
A grant of arms to the City. Shown here only with the City’s permission.
to about 2014, and today
The County flew a blue, white and blue flag with its emblem, and now flies a white flag with its logo.
Sources: Flags of the World, Essex County, Ontario
A County mark. Shown here only with the County’s permission.
court house built 1855 to 1856
The seal carved on the old county court house in Sandwich, now Mackenzie Hall.
Sources: Rose City Roots, Sandwich chapter
Photo: Crisco 1492, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
first flown 1908, adopted 1948
Our neighbour’s flag tells the same story: fleurs-de-lis for France (1701 to 1760), lions for Britain (1760 to 1796, and 1812 to 1813), and stars and stripes since 1796.
Sources: Detroit Historical Society, Encyclopedia of Detroit
Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Today’s version shown.
25 September 1975 to today
Green and white, with a lily and a trillium. First raised at Laurentian University in Sudbury, designed by Gaétan Gervais and Michel Dupuis, and made Ontario’s official Franco-Ontarian emblem in 2001. It carries the French shore story to today.
Sources: Franco-Ontarian Emblem Act, 2001; Ontario Heritage Trust
Public domain flag design, via Wikimedia Commons / open flag sources.
Each Nation’s flag belongs to that Nation. We have asked Walpole Island, Caldwell and the Wyandot of Anderdon for permission and will add a flag only when a Nation says yes.
today
The Nation’s own flag belongs to the Nation.
Sources: Walpole Island First Nation
We have asked permission. Shown only if the Nation says yes.
today
The Nation’s own flag belongs to the Nation.
Sources: Caldwell First Nation
We have asked permission. Shown only if the Nation says yes.
today
The Nation’s own flag belongs to the Nation.
Sources: Wyandot of Anderdon Nation
We have asked permission. Shown only if the Nation says yes.
time immemorial to today
The Ojibwe, Odawa and Potawatomi did not share a single flag. Agreements were kept in wampum belts. Each Nation’s flag today is its own.
Sources: Walpole Island First Nation, Nin-Da-Waab-Jig (2013); Rose City Roots, Nations of the Strait
No historic flag to show.
recorded 1815 and 1816
A white infinity sign, first written down on red in 1815 and on blue in 1816, far to the northwest. The blue flag is an official mark of the Métis National Council. We have not yet found a historic Windsor link, and we are still looking.
Sources: Gabriel Dumont Institute, The Métis Infinity Flag (quoting Peter Fidler’s Brandon House journal, 1816)
Text only. The flag belongs to the Métis Nation.
August 2026
Canada and Ontario side by side on Ottawa Street in Windsor.
Sources: Wikimedia Commons
Photo: Chris Woodrich (Crisco 1492), CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
1920 to today
The flag of Marcus Garvey’s Universal Negro Improvement Association, adopted in New York in August 1920. Windsor had a UNIA division.
Sources: MOBA Projects, Marcus Garvey’s Place in Toronto’s History
Public domain (a simple three stripe design of 1920), via Wikimedia Commons.
4 December 1838
The Hunters’ Lodges that raided Windsor had a flag of their own. We have not found a picture of it, or proof that one was carried here, so we are not showing one.
Sources: Canadian Encyclopedia, Hunters’ Lodges; Rose City Roots, War on the River
Text only until a primary source turns up.
founded in Windsor, 12 June 1885
Soldiers of the regiment back in England after Dieppe, 23 August 1942. Its line continues in the Essex and Kent Scottish, formed 1 October 1954.
Sources: Department of National Defence, official lineage of the Essex and Kent Scottish
Library and Archives Canada. Public domain.
unveiled 19 August 2006
Designed by Rory O’Connor, a University of Windsor art student. Each 19 August at 1 p.m. the sun lines up with the maple leaf cut in the stone.
Sources: Wikimedia Commons description (Frédéric Bisson); to be confirmed with the regiment
Photograph of the Essex Scottish memorial at Dieppe. Photo licence CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons. This is a photo of the public memorial, not a studio portrait; artist Rory O’Connor designed the memorial unveiled 19 August 2006.
Every picture on this page is public domain or openly licensed, and each card gives its own credit. Cards marked Awaiting permission stay empty until the owner says yes. This page includes the Franco-Ontarian public-domain flag and a CC BY-SA photograph of the Essex Scottish memorial at Dieppe (not a substitute for artist permission on separate art files). Métis and Nations flags stay permission-gated. Patriot raiders stay text-only (Hunters’ Lodges flag not shown). Seen a mistake, or have a photo of an old local flag? Tell us.
Donate to Museum Windsor