Tomorrow is the last day to vote for an Illinois state flag design.
The public can vote online at www.ilsos.gov/stateflag for one of the new designs, or for one of three flags that have already flown over the Land of Lincoln: the current state flag, the 1918 Centennial Flag and the 1968 Sesquicentennial Flag.
The 20-member Illinois Flag Commission, which includes some elected officials, chose the finalists from nearly 5,000 submissions. The designs incorporate iterations of various state icons, including the state insect (the Monarch butterfly), the state flower (violet) and Abraham Lincoln, as well as nods to corn, agriculture and industry.
The competition comes two years after Cook County adopted a new design to replace its own “seal on a bedsheet” flag, which had been used since 1961.
Yet there are those who argue for keeping the current design — a white background with just the state seal — a bald eagle with the state motto in its mouth standing on a rock bearing the year of the state’s incorporation, 1818, and the seal’s creation, 1868.
Illinois didn’t have a state flag until Ella Park Lawrence, state regent of the Daughters of the American Revolution, led a campaign to include one in the Continental Memorial Hall in Washington, D.C. The first design — submitted by Lucy Derwent of the Rockford chapter of the DAR — was adopted on July 6, 1915, but if there was any fanfare for this gesture it didn’t make the Tribune.
Bruce McDaniel, a chief petty officer in the U.S. Navy from Morgan County, complained in 1968 to state Rep. Jack Walker that the state flag was unidentifiable.
“Like most service men in Viet Nam, I requested and received a replica of the Illinois flag to hang in our mess hall,” he wrote. “However, since that name of the state is not inserted on the flag, its identity is constantly being questioned by my fellow service men.”
“Illinois” was finally added to the flag design on July 1, 1970.
One flag design that will never go out of style is that of the Chicago flag.
It might be hard to believe, but despite its popularity today, the Chicago flag was unrecognizable to the general public almost 70 years ago when the owner of a Portage Park hardware store displayed it. Some mistook it “for everything from the flag of Israel to that of one of the Scandinavian countries,” according to an Aug. 12, 1958, Tribune article.
How did this icon come to be? And what makes its design so popular and respected among flag enthusiasts (including the North American Vexillological Association, which says that next to the flag of Washington, D.C., it’s the best city flag in the U.S.) and laymen alike?
Let’s dissect the flag of Chicago by its colors — red, white and blue.
The origin of the Chicago flag
In 1892, with a little more than one month before the dedication of the World’s Columbia Exposition, organizers met with city leaders in a panicked effort to finalize decorations on both the exposition grounds and throughout the city.
Chicago had very little in terms of an official visual identity — no official colors or iconography, let alone a flag — on which to lean.
The Tribune announced a contest — with a $100 prize (or more than $3,000 in today’s dollars) — for the best municipal color combinations. In 10 days, the Tribune received 829 entries.
Suggested by an architect for the exposition, Alfred Jensen Roewad, red (or terra cotta) and white was the winning combination. He also submitted several images of how the colors could be displayed, including designs featuring a now familiar Y-shape.
It wasn’t until 1915, however, that the city’s lack of a flag became an issue. Ald. James A. Kearns, 31st, introduced a resolution calling for an official design. The City Council agreed with Kearns, who feared Chicago was lagging other major cities, and established the Chicago Municipal Flag Commission.
The commission sifted through more than 1,000 submissions before settling on an original design by writer and flag aficionado Wallace Rice. Coincidentally, Rice was originally retained to set the design rules of the competition.
The designs were submitted and approved by the City Council on April 4, 1917 — the same day the U.S. Senate voted to support U.S. entry into World War I. There were 63 “Yeas” and no dissents.
Red
Rice chose red — “the color of fire and festivity,” the Tribune later reported — as the color for the flag’s stars.
The original 1917 flag design included two, red six-pointed stars, each draped with its own symbolism. This left room for additional images. The city flag commission also devised 23 additional logos for various city departments (mayor, City Council, city clerk, etc.), which could be added to the flag, if desired. Each logo would fit into a circle and could displayed by its corresponding office.
Why do they have six points? When Mayor William Hale Thompson suggested changing the flag’s six pointed stars to five pointers, Rice balked: “I purposely made the stars six-pointed. Five-point stars are the symbols of states and could manifestly have no place in a municipal flag. Mayor Thompson is making not only himself but the flag ridiculous by ordering the change.”
Each star bears a specific meaning, and each of its six points does too. As the Chicago Public Library points out, however, the meaning of the points is mostly unofficial, with explanations varying from different sources. The first two stars from the 1917 edition of the flag are accounted for in City Council records from 1917, but the others are not.
The first star (from the original 1917 design) represents the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. Points in this star stand for material ideas in which the city was known for or seeking preeminence:
- Transportation: “The city being now the greatest railway center in the world.”
- Trade: “Both wholesale and retail, in many features of which the city bears the palm — as grain, mail orders and many more.”
- Finance: “Being the second city in the country and perhaps in the would at this time in bank clearings and banking capital.”
- Labor and industry: “The city’s manufacturers in many lines being favorably known throughout the world.”
- Populousness: “Being already the second city in the Americas and fourth in the world.”
- Healthfulness: “Being the healthiest city of its size on earth.”
The second star (also from the original 1917 design) represents the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893. Points represent immaterial and spiritual ideals:
- Religion: “Including cathedrals, churches, theological seminaries, schools for missionaries and many institutions of international rank in their respective denominations.”
- Education: “With three universities, several colleges, two technical schools, great libraries on private foundations, in addition to the enormous public school system.”
- Aesthetics: “With the new city plan for its beautification, the Art Institute, the Orchestra Hall and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the attention given architecture, music schools, art schools and much more of that nature.”
- Beneficence: “Shown in hospitals, neighborhood parks, museums, charitable organizations and a hundred other things.”
- Justice: “Exhibited in the Juvenile Courts, the Morals Court, the Court of Domestic Relations and other features in which Chicago has led the world in the application of the most modern methods to the prevention of crime and disorder and the reformation of those under the displeasure of society.”
- Civism: “Or the feeling among our people of the need for good citizenship in order that the city may take first rank in everything of good repute.”
“Taken together, the two stars symbolize the Chicago spirit,” Rice said. He deliberately placed them on the banner’s left so stars could be added to mark events, if approved by the City Council.
The third star, added in 1933, represents Century of Progress International Exposition, which began that year. On Chicago Day at the 1933 World’s Fair, Mayor Edward Joseph Kelly was to present the fair’s president, Rufus C. Dawes, with a flag to signify the selection of the event as the third star in the city’s flag. The City Council approved the addition Oct. 11, 1933.
Its points represented Chicago’s global-facing identity:
- The world’s third-largest city.
- “Urbs in Horto,” Latin for “City in a Garden.”
- “I Will,” the city’s motto.
- The Great Central Market.
- The Wonder City.
- The Convention City.
The fourth star (added in 1939) commemorates Fort Dearborn, and its points represent the historical development of the Chicago territory:
- French domination, 1693.
- English domination, 1693-1763.
- Territory of the state of Virginia, 1763-78.
- Part of Northwest Territory, 1778-98.
- Part of Indiana territory, 1798-1802.
- Illinois statehood, 1818.
The stars also were reordered chronologically: Fort Dearborn, Great Chicago Fire, World’s Columbian Exposition and Century of Progress.
Historian Kenan Heise, like other Chicagoans, despised the city’s choice to honor the Fort Dearborn “massacre.” “The white Americans encamped at Ft. Dearborn had to do many things wrong to put the Pottawatomies on the warpath, and they did all of them.” He suggested 10 events he felt more deserving of the star, including the engineered reversal of the Chicago River and the founding of Hull House.
White
Rice chose white as a “union of all the colors” meant to symbolize the union of all races in the city. Here are his explanations for each white element on the Chicago flag:
- Top white band: “This white stripe stands locally for the North Side, nationally for the Atlantic Coast, and terrestrially for the countries east and north of the United States.”
- White center band (More than twice as wide as one of the blue bands): “This white bar stands locally for the West Side, nationally for the Great Central Plain dominated by Chicago, and terrestrially for the United States, in which the two stars signify Chicago is the second city, as well as the second city of the New World.”
- Bottom white band: “This white stripe stands locally for the South Side, nationally for the Pacific Coast, and terrestrially for the countries west and south of the United States.”
Blue
Rice looked to nature for the blue elements on the Chicago flag. These are his explanations for these elements:
- Upper blue band: “This blue stripe stands locally for the North Branch of the (Chicago) River, nationally for the Allegheny Mountains, and terrestrially for the Atlantic Ocean and Great Lakes.” Rice also noted, “This stripe, with the other stripe and the two stars (on the original flag), indicates that Chicago is the fourth city of the globe.”
- Lower blue band: “This blue stripe stands locally for the South Branch of the (Chicago) River, nationally for the Rockies and Sierras, and terrestrially for the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico.”
A fifth star?
There have been campaigns to add a fifth star to the flag. Suggestions have included: French explorers Louis Jolliet and Jacques Marquette, University of Chicago’s role in the nuclear age, to honor Mayors Richard J. Daley and/or Harold Washington, to recognize the Chicago Bulls’ six NBA championships in the 1990s and if the city had been chosen to host the 2016 Olympics. The city began honoring local artists and arts institutions in 2014 with its Fifth Star Awards.
Want more vintage Chicago?
- Become a Tribune subscriber: It’s just $12 for a 1-year digital subscription
Thanks for reading!
Subscribe to the free Vintage Chicago Tribune newsletter, join our Chicagoland history Facebook group, stay current with Today in Chicago History and follow us on Instagram for more from Chicago’s past.
Have an idea for Vintage Chicago Tribune? Share it with Kori Rumore and Marianne Mather at krumore@chicagotribune.com and mmather@chicagotribune.com
As the deadline to vote in the state’s flag redesign competition approaches, let’s take a look at one design that will never go out of style — the Chicago flag.
Tomorrow is the last day to vote for an Illinois state flag design.
The public can vote online at www.ilsos.gov/stateflag for one of the new designs, or for one of three flags that have already flown over the Land of Lincoln: the current state flag, the 1918 Centennial Flag and the 1968 Sesquicentennial Flag.
The 20-member Illinois Flag Commission, which includes some elected officials, chose the finalists from nearly 5,000 submissions. The designs incorporate iterations of various state icons, including the state insect (the Monarch butterfly), the state flower (violet) and Abraham Lincoln, as well as nods to corn, agriculture and industry.
The competition comes two years after Cook County adopted a new design to replace its own “seal on a bedsheet” flag, which had been used since 1961.
Yet there are those who argue for keeping the current design — a white background with just the state seal — a bald eagle with the state motto in its mouth standing on a rock bearing the year of the state’s incorporation, 1818, and the seal’s creation, 1868.
Illinois didn’t have a state flag until Ella Park Lawrence, state regent of the Daughters of the American Revolution, led a campaign to include one in the Continental Memorial Hall in Washington, D.C. The first design — submitted by Lucy Derwent of the Rockford chapter of the DAR — was adopted on July 6, 1915, but if there was any fanfare for this gesture it didn’t make the Tribune.
Bruce McDaniel, a chief petty officer in the U.S. Navy from Morgan County, complained in 1968 to state Rep. Jack Walker that the state flag was unidentifiable.
“Like most service men in Viet Nam, I requested and received a replica of the Illinois flag to hang in our mess hall,” he wrote. “However, since that name of the state is not inserted on the flag, its identity is constantly being questioned by my fellow service men.”
“Illinois” was finally added to the flag design on July 1, 1970.
One flag design that will never go out of style is that of the Chicago flag.
It might be hard to believe, but despite its popularity today, the Chicago flag was unrecognizable to the general public almost 70 years ago when the owner of a Portage Park hardware store displayed it. Some mistook it “for everything from the flag of Israel to that of one of the Scandinavian countries,” according to an Aug. 12, 1958, Tribune article.
How did this icon come to be? And what makes its design so popular and respected among flag enthusiasts (including the North American Vexillological Association, which says that next to the flag of Washington, D.C., it’s the best city flag in the U.S.) and laymen alike?
Let’s dissect the flag of Chicago by its colors — red, white and blue.
The origin of the Chicago flag
In 1892, with a little more than one month before the dedication of the World’s Columbia Exposition, organizers met with city leaders in a panicked effort to finalize decorations on both the exposition grounds and throughout the city.
Chicago had very little in terms of an official visual identity — no official colors or iconography, let alone a flag — on which to lean.
The Tribune announced a contest — with a $100 prize (or more than $3,000 in today’s dollars) — for the best municipal color combinations. In 10 days, the Tribune received 829 entries.
Suggested by an architect for the exposition, Alfred Jensen Roewad, red (or terra cotta) and white was the winning combination. He also submitted several images of how the colors could be displayed, including designs featuring a now familiar Y-shape.
It wasn’t until 1915, however, that the city’s lack of a flag became an issue. Ald. James A. Kearns, 31st, introduced a resolution calling for an official design. The City Council agreed with Kearns, who feared Chicago was lagging other major cities, and established the Chicago Municipal Flag Commission.
The commission sifted through more than 1,000 submissions before settling on an original design by writer and flag aficionado Wallace Rice. Coincidentally, Rice was originally retained to set the design rules of the competition.
The designs were submitted and approved by the City Council on April 4, 1917 — the same day the U.S. Senate voted to support U.S. entry into World War I. There were 63 “Yeas” and no dissents.
Red
Rice chose red — “the color of fire and festivity,” the Tribune later reported — as the color for the flag’s stars.
The original 1917 flag design included two, red six-pointed stars, each draped with its own symbolism. This left room for additional images. The city flag commission also devised 23 additional logos for various city departments (mayor, City Council, city clerk, etc.), which could be added to the flag, if desired. Each logo would fit into a circle and could displayed by its corresponding office.
Why do they have six points? When Mayor William Hale Thompson suggested changing the flag’s six pointed stars to five pointers, Rice balked: “I purposely made the stars six-pointed. Five-point stars are the symbols of states and could manifestly have no place in a municipal flag. Mayor Thompson is making not only himself but the flag ridiculous by ordering the change.”
Each star bears a specific meaning, and each of its six points does too. As the Chicago Public Library points out, however, the meaning of the points is mostly unofficial, with explanations varying from different sources. The first two stars from the 1917 edition of the flag are accounted for in City Council records from 1917, but the others are not.
The first star (from the original 1917 design) represents the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. Points in this star stand for material ideas in which the city was known for or seeking preeminence:
- Transportation: “The city being now the greatest railway center in the world.”
- Trade: “Both wholesale and retail, in many features of which the city bears the palm — as grain, mail orders and many more.”
- Finance: “Being the second city in the country and perhaps in the would at this time in bank clearings and banking capital.”
- Labor and industry: “The city’s manufacturers in many lines being favorably known throughout the world.”
- Populousness: “Being already the second city in the Americas and fourth in the world.”
- Healthfulness: “Being the healthiest city of its size on earth.”
The second star (also from the original 1917 design) represents the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893. Points represent immaterial and spiritual ideals:
- Religion: “Including cathedrals, churches, theological seminaries, schools for missionaries and many institutions of international rank in their respective denominations.”
- Education: “With three universities, several colleges, two technical schools, great libraries on private foundations, in addition to the enormous public school system.”
- Aesthetics: “With the new city plan for its beautification, the Art Institute, the Orchestra Hall and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the attention given architecture, music schools, art schools and much more of that nature.”
- Beneficence: “Shown in hospitals, neighborhood parks, museums, charitable organizations and a hundred other things.”
- Justice: “Exhibited in the Juvenile Courts, the Morals Court, the Court of Domestic Relations and other features in which Chicago has led the world in the application of the most modern methods to the prevention of crime and disorder and the reformation of those under the displeasure of society.”
- Civism: “Or the feeling among our people of the need for good citizenship in order that the city may take first rank in everything of good repute.”
“Taken together, the two stars symbolize the Chicago spirit,” Rice said. He deliberately placed them on the banner’s left so stars could be added to mark events, if approved by the City Council.
The third star, added in 1933, represents Century of Progress International Exposition, which began that year. On Chicago Day at the 1933 World’s Fair, Mayor Edward Joseph Kelly was to present the fair’s president, Rufus C. Dawes, with a flag to signify the selection of the event as the third star in the city’s flag. The City Council approved the addition Oct. 11, 1933.
Its points represented Chicago’s global-facing identity:
- The world’s third-largest city.
- “Urbs in Horto,” Latin for “City in a Garden.”
- “I Will,” the city’s motto.
- The Great Central Market.
- The Wonder City.
- The Convention City.
The fourth star (added in 1939) commemorates Fort Dearborn, and its points represent the historical development of the Chicago territory:
- French domination, 1693.
- English domination, 1693-1763.
- Territory of the state of Virginia, 1763-78.
- Part of Northwest Territory, 1778-98.
- Part of Indiana territory, 1798-1802.
- Illinois statehood, 1818.
The stars also were reordered chronologically: Fort Dearborn, Great Chicago Fire, World’s Columbian Exposition and Century of Progress.
Historian Kenan Heise, like other Chicagoans, despised the city’s choice to honor the Fort Dearborn “massacre.” “The white Americans encamped at Ft. Dearborn had to do many things wrong to put the Pottawatomies on the warpath, and they did all of them.” He suggested 10 events he felt more deserving of the star, including the engineered reversal of the Chicago River and the founding of Hull House.
White
Rice chose white as a “union of all the colors” meant to symbolize the union of all races in the city. Here are his explanations for each white element on the Chicago flag:
- Top white band: “This white stripe stands locally for the North Side, nationally for the Atlantic Coast, and terrestrially for the countries east and north of the United States.”
- White center band (More than twice as wide as one of the blue bands): “This white bar stands locally for the West Side, nationally for the Great Central Plain dominated by Chicago, and terrestrially for the United States, in which the two stars signify Chicago is the second city, as well as the second city of the New World.”
- Bottom white band: “This white stripe stands locally for the South Side, nationally for the Pacific Coast, and terrestrially for the countries west and south of the United States.”
Blue
Rice looked to nature for the blue elements on the Chicago flag. These are his explanations for these elements:
- Upper blue band: “This blue stripe stands locally for the North Branch of the (Chicago) River, nationally for the Allegheny Mountains, and terrestrially for the Atlantic Ocean and Great Lakes.” Rice also noted, “This stripe, with the other stripe and the two stars (on the original flag), indicates that Chicago is the fourth city of the globe.”
- Lower blue band: “This blue stripe stands locally for the South Branch of the (Chicago) River, nationally for the Rockies and Sierras, and terrestrially for the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico.”
A fifth star?
There have been campaigns to add a fifth star to the flag. Suggestions have included: French explorers Louis Jolliet and Jacques Marquette, University of Chicago’s role in the nuclear age, to honor Mayors Richard J. Daley and/or Harold Washington, to recognize the Chicago Bulls’ six NBA championships in the 1990s and if the city had been chosen to host the 2016 Olympics. The city began honoring local artists and arts institutions in 2014 with its Fifth Star Awards.
Want more vintage Chicago?
- Become a Tribune subscriber: It’s just $12 for a 1-year digital subscription
Thanks for reading!
Subscribe to the free Vintage Chicago Tribune newsletter, join our Chicagoland history Facebook group, stay current with Today in Chicago History and follow us on Instagram for more from Chicago’s past.
Have an idea for Vintage Chicago Tribune? Share it with Kori Rumore and Marianne Mather at krumore@chicagotribune.com and mmather@chicagotribune.com
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