Flag of Chicago

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Flag of Chicago
Flag of Chicago, Illinois.svg
Use Civil flag FIAV 100000.svg FIAV normal.svg IFIS Equal.svg
Proportion2:3
AdoptedOriginal, 1917; additional stars added, 1933 and 1939.
Design Argent four mullets of six points gules in fess between two bars bleu de ciel.
Designed by Wallace Rice

The flag of Chicago consists of two light blue horizontal bars, or stripes, on a field of white, each bar one-sixth the height of the full flag, and placed slightly less than one-sixth of the way from the top and bottom. Four bright red stars, with six sharp points each, are set side by side, close together, in the middle third of the flag's surface. [1]

Contents

Chicago is a city in Illinois, United States. Its flag was adopted in 1917 after the design by Wallace Rice won a City Council sponsored competition. It initially had two stars until 1933, when a third was added. The four-star version has existed since 1939. The three sections of the white field and the two bars represent geographical features of the city, the stars symbolize historical events, and the points of the stars represent important virtues or concepts. The historic events represented by the stars are the establishment of Fort Dearborn, the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893, and Century of Progress Exposition of 1933–34.

In a review by the North American Vexillological Association of 150 American city flags, the Chicago city flag was ranked second-best with a rating of 9.03 out of 10, behind only the flag of Washington, D.C. [2]

Symbolism

Initial flag of Chicago using a design similar to the modern one, in use from 1917 to 1933 Flag of Chicago, Illinois (1917).svg
Initial flag of Chicago using a design similar to the modern one, in use from 1917 to 1933
History and meaning of the Chicago flag History and Meaning of The Chicago Flag.png
History and meaning of the Chicago flag

Bars

The three white background areas of the flag represent, from top to bottom, the North, West, and South sides of the city. The top blue bar represents Lake Michigan and the North Branch of the Chicago River. The bottom blue bar represents the South Branch of the river and the "Great Canal", over the Chicago Portage. [3] The light blue of the flag's two bars is variously called sky blue [4] or pale blue; [5] in a 1917 article of a speech by designer Wallace Rice, it was called "the color of water". [6] [7]

Stars

Kitty Kelly holding Flag of Chicago from the Chicago Tribune, 1921. Note the two stars on the flag at the time. Kitty Kelly holding Flag of Chicago 201921.jpg
Kitty Kelly holding Flag of Chicago from the Chicago Tribune , 1921. Note the two stars on the flag at the time.

There are four red six-pointed stars on the center white bar. Six-pointed stars are used because five-pointed stars represent sovereign states and because the star as designed was found on no other known flags as of 1917. [9] From the hoist outwards, the stars represent:

Additional stars have been proposed, with varying degrees of seriousness. The following reasons have been suggested for possible additions of a fifth star:

Flag of Alliance Francaise de Chicago students Flag of Alliance-Francaise de Chicago students.svg
Flag of Alliance Française de Chicago students
City of Chicago Flag, alongside the US and Illinois State Flags at Navy Pier USChiIlli Flags.jpg
City of Chicago Flag, alongside the US and Illinois State Flags at Navy Pier
The Chicago PD's flag; adopted in April 1977. Flag of the Chicago Police Department.png
The Chicago PD's flag; adopted in April 1977.

Unlawful private use

Per the Municipal Code of Chicago, it is unlawful to use the flag, or any imitation or design thereof, except for the usual and customary purposes of decoration or display. Causing to be displayed on the flag, any letter, word, legend, or device not provided for in the Code is also prohibited. Violators are subject to fines between $5.00 and $25.00 for each offense. [20] However, the United States Constitution, via its first and fourteenth amendments, prohibits this section from being enforced ( Street v. New York ).

History

In 1915, Mayor William Hale Thompson appointed a municipal flag commission chaired by Alderman James A. Kearns. Among the commission members were wealthy industrialist Charles Deering and impressionist painter Lawton S. Parker. Parker asked lecturer and poet Wallace Rice to develop the rules for an open public competition for the best flag design. Over a thousand entries were received.[ citation needed ] The 318th Cavalry Regiment incorporated the flag into their insignia.[ citation needed ]

See also

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References

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  2. "2004 American City Flags Survey" Archived 2017-08-09 at the Wayback Machine , North American Vexillological Association press release, 2 October 2004
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "Chicago Facts: Municipal Flag". Chicago Public Library. Archived from the original on July 19, 2014. Retrieved July 10, 2014.
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  6. "Association Sounds Chicago's Call . . ". Chicago Commerce. Chicago Association of Commerce and Industry. December 6, 1917. p. 6.
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  9. Rice, Wallace; T. E. Whalen (July 22, 2005). "Wallace Rice on Chicago Stars". introvert.net. Retrieved April 18, 2011.
  10. Heise, Kenan (August 15, 1976). "It's a grand old flag. But it could be grander". Chicago Tribune Magazine. p. 34. Retrieved April 14, 2017.
  11. Whalen, T.E. (January 3, 2006), The Municipal Flag of Chicago: References (PDF), p. 8
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  13. "Please, A Moratorium On Memorials". Chicago Tribune . December 23, 1987. Retrieved January 18, 2013. Ald. Raymond Figueroa and others want a fifth star added to the city's flag in memory of Mr. Washington.
  14. Chicago 2016 Newswire (December 14, 2006), Chicago Students Creatively Try to Bring Home the Bid, Chicago 2016 Committee, archived from the original on February 10, 2007, retrieved April 14, 2017{{citation}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  15. Sneed, Michael (July 18, 2018). "Anne Burke wants fifth star on Chicago flag for Special Olympics". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved July 20, 2018.
  16. Janssen, Kim (November 29, 2016). "Add a fifth star to Chicago flag, Justice Anne Burke tells Emanuel". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved July 20, 2018.
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  18. "The Fifth Star Challenge". Chicago History Museum.
  19. Cherone, Heather (May 8, 2020). "Lightfoot Outlines 5-Phase Plan to Reopen Chicago". WTTW .
  20. City of Chicago (March 18, 2020) [Originally published 1990.]. "1-8-090 Private use of flags and emblems unlawful". Municipal Code of Chicago (Municipal code.). American Legal Publishing Corporation. sec. 1-8-090. Archived from the original on June 8, 2020. Retrieved June 8, 2020 via American Legal Publishing's Code Library.
  21. Loerzel, Robert (April 14, 2017). "The Story of Chicago's Four-Star City Flag". Medium. Retrieved April 5, 2023.
  22. Marx, Kori Rumore and Ryan. "Chicago's flag: The history of every star and every stripe". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved April 7, 2019.
  23. Marx, Kori Rumore and Ryan. "Chicago's flag: The history of every star and every stripe". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved April 7, 2019.

Further reading