Superintendent of Public Instruction C.P. Cary was instrumental in adopting Wisconsin’s state flower. School children had already voted for a state flower in neighboring Illinois, as well as in New York and Rhode Island. Cary studied their efforts and decided to follow Rhode Island’s example.
Wisconsin’s school children would be invited to vote for their favorite flowers, and the most popular would be announced. They would vote again the next year, this time choosing from among the finalists. Both votes would be held on Arbor Day.
The first vote, held in 1908, yielded four finalists: the trailing arbutus, violet, white water lily, and wild rose. The final campaign in 1909 was won by the violet, with 67,178 votes out of a total of 147,918 votes. The wild rose took second place with 31,024 votes, followed by the arbutus and water lily.
But the violet reigned only as Wisconsin’s unofficial state flower. It hadn’t been officially adopted.
A Centennial Blossom
In 1948, Wisconsin celebrated its centennial. The Youth Committee of the Centennial Commission discovered that several of Wisconsin’s symbols were unofficial. The Committee sponsored a bill to officially adopt the state flower, tree, and bird. Wisconsin’s wood violet became official on June 4, 1949.
Wisconsin’s official wood violet is also known as the common blue violet.
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