Washington State Coat of Arms

The Washington coat of arms is a circular seal with a portrait of George Washington at its center. The words 'The Seal of the State of Washington' appear in the outer ring, and the year 1889 marks statehood. The design appears on the Washington state flag, official documents, and government buildings throughout the state.

Unlike many state coats of arms that use shields, heraldic supporters, and crests in the European tradition, Washington's design concentrates everything into one central image: the face of the president the state was named after.

When Washington Territory was preparing for statehood in 1889, officials needed an official seal for state documents. Two men from Olympia took on the job: Charles Talcott, who ran a jewelry and watchmaking shop, and L. F. Bishop.

The story of how they made it became part of Washington's official history. Talcott and Bishop drew the outer circle using a round ink bottle as a makeshift compass. For the portrait at the center, they traced George Washington's image from a postage stamp. It was a practical solution, and it worked.

Washington entered the Union on November 11, 1889, as the forty-second state, and the seal was adopted that same year. The portrait of Washington has been refined and standardized over the decades, but the core design has not changed: the president's portrait, the state name, and the year 1889.

The Washington coat of arms is built from two visible elements that work together: the central portrait and the surrounding ring of text and date.

Washington is the only U.S. state named after an American president. The coat of arms makes that fact the center of the design. George Washington's portrait sits at the middle, framed by the state's name and the year it became a state.

The year 1889 carries its own weight. Washington was not one of the original thirteen colonies. It grew from a territory into a state in the final wave of Western expansion, and 1889 records the moment it became permanent. The seal ties the president's image to that specific year, connecting the founder's name to the state's founding moment.

Before statehood, Washington Territory used a territorial seal from 1853 to 1889. The territorial seal was a separate design and is not the same emblem used by the state today.

Since 1889, the state seal and coat of arms have been refined to standardize George Washington's portrait, but the core design has not changed. No separate, officially adopted coat of arms has replaced the original 1889 design.