Only One U.S. State Flag Features a Different Design on Each Side
The flag of the state of Oregon is a two-sided flag in navy blue and gold with an optional gold fringe, and it is the only state flag in the Union that has different view on its obverse and reverse sides. On the front is the escutcheon (shield) from the state seal and on the reverse is a gold figure of a beaver, the state animal.
The thirty-three stars on the flag symbolize Oregon's admission to the Union in 1859 as the Nation's 33rd State.
Oregon is the only U.S. State to feature different designs on either side of its flag, the last State to change before Oregon became the final two-sided flag in the Union, the flag of Massachusetts was modified in 1971 to be single-sided.
The current flag of Oregon became official on February 26, 1925 and it has stood that way to this day, but in 2009, when the state was about to turn 150 years old, The Oregonian newspaper created a statewide contest to redesign the flag for the upcoming Sesquicentennial.
Entries were collected and published with the overall winner being voted on by the public. The winning design was submitted by a Clackamas County map maker named Randall Gray. His design had more emphasis on the beaver, on the flag's reverse side.
After the contest had already started, and votes were being cast, requests came in for the paper to add another option: NONE OF THE ABOVE. Since that option received the most votes in the end, it's kind of like New Coke in the mid-80s; you better be careful messing with a classic, else the backlash might be swift and strong.
Another Oregon state house resolution to change the flag never made it out of committee in 2013.