The Star-Spangled Banner Flag-- Part 6: Eben Appleton

From the Star-Spangled Banner, Smithsonian.

Eben Appleton was a New York stockbroker who inherited the Star-Spangled Banner upon his mother's death in 1878.  The flag had received a lot of publicity in the 1870s which had transformed it  into a national treasure.  Eben Appleton received a whole lot of requests to lend it for patriotic occasions.  He did lend it to the City of Baltimore for its sesquicentennial in 1880.

After that he became concerned about the flag's deteriorating condition so he began keeping it in a safe deposit box in New York City.

In 1907, he loaned it to the Smithsonian and in 1912 converted it into a gift.

--Brock-Perry