This flag was the result of an offhand suggestion back in 1973, when I was teaching at Shimer College, then in Mount Carroll, Illinois. I asked someone if the city or the county had a flag, and the answer came back "No, would you like to design one?" Seems the fellow I asked (Jay McCall, then Bursar at the college) was on the Carroll County Bicentennial Commission, which was preparing for the festivities commemorating the US bicentennial due in 1976.
A little research indicated that Charles Carroll of Carrollton, MD, was a signer of the Declaration of Independence and was in fact the man for whom the county was named, as the earliest settlers came from Maryland. It seemed appropriate that his coat-of-arms could serve as the flag of the county, just as Lord Baltimore's arms serve as the Maryland flag and George Washington's as the flag of Washington, DC.
We agreed to a small change in the design, making the sword all gold instead of silver-bladed, and on March 14, 1974, the County Commission formally adopted the design. I'll take credit for the design, but Jay did the drawing. (The GIF above is by Blas Delgado Ortiz.) If you ever visit the county, you can buy one as a souvenir.
By the way, the flag is now on Flags of the World! Click here!
Oh, and see if you see anything unusual in the logo of Flagline.com !!