STAR SPANGLED BANNER FLAG HOUSE ASSOCIATION INCORPORATED

To inspire personal connections to American history through the multi-faceted story of the Star-Spangled Banner.

Built in 1793, the Star-Spangled Banner Flag House was the home and business of Mary Pickersgill, maker of the flag that inspired Francis Scott Key’s famous poem that would become the American national anthem in 1931. In 1927, the City of Baltimore and the Star-Spangled Banner Flag House Association took over the historic property and established a museum dedicated to the legacy of Mary Pickersgill. The Flag House was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1970. Today, visitors encounter a Flag House interior restored to an approximation of its 1813 appearance, with furnishings and domestic objects of the period, many of them belonging to the Young-Pickersgill family.

In 2003, the Jean and Lilian Hofmeister Building was opened on the Flag House grounds to provide a modern museum facility with welcome desk, gift shop, orientation theater, exhibition gallery, collections storage, and administrative offices. The façade of the building boasts a 30-by-42-foot glass replica of the Star-Spangled Banner. Inside, the first floor is taken up with the permanent exhibit, Family of Flagmakers: The Women Who Created the Star-Spangled Banner. This is the first exhibit devoted to the life and career of Mary Pickersgill and showcases personal objects, including the original receipt for the Star-Spangled Banner.