![[Kingston, Ontario]](../images/c/ca-on-ki-l.gif)
1:2 image by
Eugene IpavecSource: Canadian City Flags, Raven 18
Last modified: 2020-06-13 by rob raeside
Keywords: canada | ontario | kingston | martello tower | crowns: gold (3) |
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1:2 image by
Eugene Ipavec
Source: Canadian City Flags,
Raven 18
See also:
Kingston is a city in eastern Ontario, Canada. It is on the eastern end of Lake Ontario, at the beginning of the St. Lawrence River and at the mouth of the Cataraqui River (south end of the Rideau Canal). The city is midway between Toronto, Ontario and Montreal, Quebec.
Text and image(s) from Canadian City Flags, Raven 18 (2011), courtesy of the North American Vexillological Association, which retains copyright. Image(s) by permission of Eugene Ipavec.
The flag of the City of Kingston has a red field with three wavy
horizontal stripes of white-blue-white, edged in black, in the lower third. Rising
out of them on the left is a round stone tower with two windows and a
conical roof, in white with black details, just over half the height of the flag.
In the upper fly are three yellow eastern crowns, two over one, outlined in
black, each with five points and one-sixth the height of the flag. The Pantone
colours are red 186 C, yellow 123 C, and blue 286 C.
Doreen
Braverman, Canadian City Flags,
Raven 18,
2011
The red field is one of the national colours of Canada. The
blue and white wavy stripes represent the confluence of three bodies of water
in the Kingston area—Lake Ontario, the St. Lawrence River, and the Cataraqui
River/Rideau Canal System. The tower represents the Martello Tower,
the outstanding feature of Kingston’s waterfront which has symbolized the
city for over 150 years. It represents strength and firmness of resolve, as well
as Kingston’s extensive military connections. The three eastern crowns are
positioned to reflect the geographic arrangement of the three former municipalities
that combined to form the City of Kingston in 1998—the Town of Kingston, the City of Kingston, and the Town of Pittsburgh. The flag
rearranges the elements from the shield of the city’s coat of arms.
Doreen Braverman, Canadian City Flags,
Raven 18,
2011
A committee comprising three councillors, George Beavis,
Leonore Foster, and Don Rogers, as well as six citizens: Robert Cardwell and
Peter Dorn of the Pittsburgh Historical Society, Edward R. Grenda of the
Kingston Historical Society, Roland Laframboise, a member of the College
of Arms, Marjorie Simmons of the Genealogical Society, and Lawry Raskin,
a graphic designer who drafted the committee’s ideas into drawings.
Doreen Braverman, Canadian City Flags,
Raven 18,
2011
![[Kingston, Ontario]](../images/c/ca-on-kio1-l.gif)
1:2 image by
Eugene Ipavec
Source: Canadian City Flags,
Raven 18
The City of Kingston
had two flags before the merger
(the Towns of Kingston and Pittsburgh
reportedly did not). The “citizen’s flag”,
for non-governmental display, has a
white field, with a large “Y” in teal running
from the base of the flag to the
upper edge, with its tips touching the upper corners. In the centre is a red
disc, three-eighths the height of the flag, ringed by a band consisting of four
concentric circles of golden yellow edged in black, with maple leaves pointing
outwards at the four cardinal positions, in golden yellow with black details.
Within the ring is an image of the Martello Tower in white with black details
and golden yellow shading.
Doreen Braverman, Canadian City Flags,
Raven 18,
2011
![[Kingston, Ontario]](../images/c/ca-on-kio2-l.gif)
1:2 image by
Eugene Ipavec
Source: Canadian City Flags,
Raven 18
The “official” or “city” flag was used only
on civic buildings and at civic parades.
Its proportions are 2:3. On a field of
medium blue, a horizontal “Y” shape
runs with its arms straight and touching
the hoist corners and its trunk wavy and
running to the fly at about one-third the
height of the flag. The “Y” consists of stripes of white-blue-white in proportions
of 4:3:4. Two-thirds of the way to the hoist and overlaid by the wavy
trunk of the “Y” is a shield three-fourths the height of the flag. The shield is red with a golden-yellow border and places an eastern crown over the Martello
Tower, both in golden yellow with black details; at its base are two wavy lines,
blue over white. On both flags the “Y” shape represents Kingston’s location
at the junction of the three bodies of water, the tower (of limestone) reflects
the area’s geology and the city’s historic role in the defence of Canada, and
the colours gold and blue suggest a royal city, which Kingston is by name and
association. They were chosen in a public flag competition in 1974.
Doreen Braverman, Canadian City Flags,
Raven 18,
2011
![[Kingston Police, Ontario]](../images/c/ca-on-ki-pol.gif)
image located by Dave Fowler, 15 December 2016
Source:
http://reg.gg.ca/heraldry/pub-reg/project.asp?lang=e&ProjectID=2786
Flag and badge granted April 15, 2016
Blazon: Azure the Badge cantoned by maple leaves, stem to the centre, each ensigned by an ancient crown Or.
The ancient crowns and maple leaves symbolize that the force was established in the same year of 1841 that the city of Kingston was named as the capital of the Province of Canada.
Dave Fowler, 15 December 2016
