The Chicago flag tells a story in its stars and stripes, and there is meaning behind each of the elements of the iconic banner.
It all starts at the beginning with Wallace Rice, who is credited with designing the flag.
“He was actually tapped by the mayor to come up with a contest to design the flag,” said Jennifer McElroy, the social media manager for the Chicago Architecture Center. “He wrote all the rules of what a good flag is and ironically, he won the competition!”
Rice created the red stars' design, with each star having six points. Each of the stars marks an historic moment in time.
“The first star represents Fort Dearborn, the second star represents the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, the third star represents the 1893 World’s Fair and the fourth star represents the 1933 Century of Progress Exhibition,” McElroy explained.
The six-point stars are also distinctive to the Chicago flag, and each of the points on each of the stars holds a different meaning, according to the city's Municipal Code and the Chicago Public Library.
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-The star closest to a flagpole symbolizes Fort Dearborn, and the six points represent each of Illinois' governing bodies in its history, starting with France and continuing to England, the state of Virginia, the Northwest Territory, the Indiana Territory and finally when Illinois became a state in 1818.
-The next star, which represents the Great Chicago Fire, pays homage to the different industries that helped revive the city: transportation, labor, commerce, finance, populousness and health.
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-The third star, representing the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893, has star points that represent religion, education, aesthetics, justice, beneficence and civic spirit.
-The fourth star, representing the Century of Progress Exposition of 1933, has points that represent what the library calls "Chicago's significant attributes" of that time period. Those include being the world's third-largest city in 1933, its motto, the Great Central Market, Wonder City and Convention City.
Rice then added two blue stripes to the design.
“The one on the top represents Lake Michigan and the north branch of the Chicago River, while the one on the bottom represents the shipping canal and south branch of the river,” McElroy said.
Even the white background isn't just blank space. It in fact has special meaning too.
“The top band represents the north, the bottom represents the south, but the widest in the middle is the west side, because geographically it is the largest area in Chicago, so it gets the biggest band,” that’s according to Paul Durica, the Director of Exhibitions at the Chicago History Museum.
Despite being designed in 1917, it took decades for the flag to really catch on. Now, it’s one of the most widely used symbols of the city, seen on everything from shirts and scarves snapped up by tourists, to uniforms of the city's sports teams, and even within the studios of NBC Chicago.
“The beauty of it is it’s seemingly simple, but intentional in its meaning,” Durica said.
McElroy added, “what a phenomenal way to unite the city. Everybody loves this flag. It doesn’t matter where you’re from, it unites all Chicagoans.”
But will the flag ever get a fifth star? It was designed with room for additions, and the city has come close on a few occasions. For example, when Chicago was bidding for the Olympics, there was talk of adding another star then.
For now, it remains at four, and serves as a distinctive symbol of the city.
