I wondered if, between Alaska and Hawaii, there was a 49-star US flag. I did some searching, and found out there was! Here's one of the pages this design can be found on:
http://www.heritage-flag.com/htm/historic/49.htm

Cool! As someone born post-60 I'm so used to the 50 star flag..

Was the flag updated each time a state was added? I know there was originally a 13 star flag, apparently a 49 star, and a 48 star, but were there several other version?

At what point did the U.S. flag change from a circular star placement to a rectangular?

as the 13 star flag, the one where the Stars appeared in a circle?

[quote author=whis

Maybe they were worried that the revolution wouldn't come off, so they hedged their bets on the flag ;D

Cool! As someone born post-60 I'm so used to the 50 star flag..

Was the flag updated each time a state was added? I know there was originally a 13 star flag, apparently a 49 star, and a 48 star, but were there several other version?

At what point did the U.S. flag change from a circular star placement to a rectangular?

I found a couple of pages where you can see the different flag designs from the 13 stars to the present.

On this one, you can scroll down to see all the designs.
http://www.readingeagle.com/krt/holidays/flag1/html/3.htm

Here's where you can click on links to see the designs "flat", without waves, and also the older designs in use before the 13 stars.
http://www.usflag.org/history/historicflags.html

I notice that the 2 pages sometimes have differing designs for some of the flags, such as the 13 & 15 star flags. One page shows the stars circular, the other shows them rectangular. But I'd guess all these designs may have been used, although there may have been only one official design for the flags.

A new star is officially added to the flag on the 4th of July after a new state is admitted. The design that was used the longest is the 48 stars, from 1912-59, 47 years. Our current design will break that record on July 4, 2007!

That's cool.I made that flag as computer wallpaper. :)

I found a couple of pages where you can see the different flag designs from the 13 stars to the present.

On this one, you can scroll down to see all the designs.
http://www.readingeagle.com/krt/holidays/flag1/html/3.htm


I am now in doubt as to the officiality of some of the designs on that website. Some of those are pretty wild. I mean, a pentagram configuration?!? Some of them, such as the 49-star design, seem to be correct, though.

I'd just stick with http://www.usflag.org/history/historicflags.html as far as official designs go.