The drop box for U.S. flags is on the first floor at City Hall. | City of Jacksonville
Published on May 22, 2025 at 11:36 am
Free local news and info, in your inbox at 6 a.m. M-F. Sign up for the Jacksonville Today newsletter.
Jacksonville has installed a U.S. Flag Retirement Drop Box at City Hall … just in time for Memorial Day.
The new box at 117 W. Duval St. allows people to respectfully and conveniently discard old or worn American flags, city officials said.
Jacksonville Today thanks our sponsors. Become one.
The drop box is set up just outside the Military Affairs and Veterans Department office on the North Laura Street side of City Hall.
The drop box is accessible during City Hall business hours — 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays — and anyone dropping off a flag for disposal must go through the security checkpoint at the West Duval Street entrance.
“This initiative is part of our ongoing commitment to respect, honor and serve those who served us,” said Harrison Conyers, head of the city’s Military Affairs and Veterans Department. “Properly retiring worn flags is more than a ceremonial duty — it’s a gesture of gratitude, and we’re proud to offer a way for our community to participate.”
Jacksonville Today thanks our sponsors. Become one.
According to the U.S. Department of Defense, rules on how to properly fly the flag were established in 1923, when the National Flag Conference met in Washington, D.C. Its members created the Flag Code, which states that “the flag represents a living country and is itself considered a living thing.”
Then the American Legion passed a resolution about flag retirement ceremonies in 1937, stating that “the approved method of disposing of unserviceable flags has long been that they be destroyed by burning.”
The city’s Military Affairs and Veterans Department will coordinate the proper disposition of all the flags left in the box, working with local veterans’ organizations to ensure they are retired in accordance with the U.S. Flag Code.
Many state and county government offices and Veterans of Foreign Wars posts have flag disposal boxes outside of their buildings, the Defense Department states.
