![]() 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, the union of all the colors, to symbolize the union of all the races in the city of Chicago." - Rice, Chicago flag designer The designs were submitted and approved by the City Council on Ap- the same day the U.S. Coincidentally, Rice was originally retained to set the design rules of the competition. The commission sifted through more than 1,000 submissions before settling on an original design by writer and flag aficianado Wallace Rice. ![]() The City Council agreed with Kearns, who feared Chicago was lagging other major cities, and established the Chicago Municipal Flag Commission. Kearns, 31st, introduced a resolution calling for an official design. It wasn't until 1915 that the city's lack of a flag became an issue. He also submitted several images of how the colors could be displayed, including designs featuring a now familiar Y-shape. Suggested by an architect for the exposition, Alfred Jensen Roewad, red and white was the winning combination. In 10 days, the Tribune received 829 entries. The Tribune embraced Millet's "catchy" idea, announcing a contest on the next day's front page for the best municipal color combinations. "Almost all European cities have chosen colors, as the universities and colleges have done, and these are called the 'Municipal Colors.' Would it not be well now to see if the authorities of Chicago will not select a color or combination of colors as the 'Municipal Colors' for the city? If this is done, it will simplify the whole matter of civic decorations very much and afford a precedent which will, I am sure, be followed in all great cities of the Union." - Millet Published comments from the exposition's supervisor for painting and sculpture, local mural artist Francis Davis Millet, addressed the issue: 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.Ĭhicago had very little in terms of an official visual idenity - no official colors or iconography, let alone a flag - on which to lean. ![]() Why red? Francis Davis Millet sketch from the Chicago Tribune, Nov. Let's dissect the flag of Chicago by its colors - red, white and blue. 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? Some mistook it "for everything from the flag of Israel to that of one of the Scandinavian countries," according to an Aug. It might be hard to believe, but despite its popularity today, the Chicago flag was unrecognizable to the general public almost 60 years ago when the owner of a Portage Park hardware store displayed it. Visitors scoop up the design on T-shirts and other souvenirs, while locals often have it tattooed on their bodies. Try walking a block on Michigan Avenue without spotting the city's municipal colors in flag form.Ītop building entrances, on the right upper sleeves of police officers' uniforms and on the bridge over the Chicago River, Chicago flags fly near their national and state counterparts. (Kristen Norman/for the Chicago Tribune)Įvery day in Chicago is Flag Day. Chicago flag themed gifts seen on display at the gift shop inside of the Chicago History Museum in 2015. ![]()
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