Albany's flag, designed in 1909 for the tercentenary of Henry Hudson's discovery of the Hudson River, but officially adopted only in 1912, features an orange-white-blue tricolor with Albany's coat of arms (drawn in 1789) on the orange band.
The colors are those of the Prince's Flag (Prinsenvlag) used by the Dutch East India Company (VOC) for which Hudson sailed in 1609. Albany was called Fort Orange under Dutch rule (1624-1664), and this flag pays homage to these deep Dutch roots.
It is an unusual political capital: small, old, wedged between the mountains and the Hudson River. The State Capitol, completed in 1899 after 32 years of construction, is one of the most expensive ever built.
In the 2004 NAVA survey, Albany's flag received a score of 5.2/10, ranking 34th among 150 American municipal flags. It is a good design – historically significant, symbolically clear, visually distinctive. Albany honors its Dutch roots while serving as the political heart of the most powerful state in America.