Introduction

The flag of Chicago is a distinctive municipal banner featuring two light blue horizontal stripes on a field of white, with four six-pointed red stars arranged in a single row across the central white band.

Designed by Wallace Rice in 1917, its layout is a classic example of a triband design, but it is uniquely defined by its symbolic stars.

The flag's clean, geometric composition and meaningful symbolism have earned it widespread acclaim, consistently ranking among the best-designed city flags in North America by vexillologists.

Meaning & Symbolism

The flag's three white stripes represent the North, West, and South sides of the city, while the two blue stripes symbolize Lake Michigan and the North Branch of the Chicago River, framing the city's geography.

Each of the four red six-pointed stars represents a major historical event: Fort Dearborn (1812), the Great Chicago Fire (1871), the World's Columbian Exposition (1893), and the Century of Progress Exposition (1933-34). The red color signifies the blood and sacrifice of the city's pioneers.

History of the Chicago Flag

The flag was officially adopted on April 4, 1917, after a design competition won by poet and lecturer Wallace Rice, who was commissioned by Mayor William Hale Thompson.

The original 1917 flag had only two stars. A third star was added in 1933 for the Century of Progress Exposition, and the fourth and final star was added in 1939 to represent that same exposition, bringing the flag to its current design.

Curiosities

  • The flag's design is so popular it is frequently tattooed by residents and appears on a vast array of merchandise, from clothing to building murals.
  • In a 2004 survey by the North American Vexillological Association, it was ranked the 2nd best city flag in the United States, behind only Washington D.C.
  • The six points on each star have no official meaning, but Wallace Rice suggested they could represent virtues such as transportation, labor, commerce, finance, populousness, and salubrity.

Download Flag

Download the flag of Chicago in high-quality SVG vector format or PNG raster images. SVG files can be scaled to any size without losing quality.

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Construction Sheet

The flag uses a 2:3 proportion. The field consists of three horizontal stripes: two light blue stripes each one-sixth of the flag's height, and a central white stripe one-third of the height. The four red six-pointed stars are centered on the white stripe, spaced evenly from hoist to fly, with each point of the stars aligned to an imaginary circle.

Flags Similar to Chicago Flag

Samoa Flag Samoa Canton with stars Argentina Flag Argentina light blue/white/light blue Nicaragua Flag Nicaragua blue/white/blue

Common Misidentifications

Rarely misidentified due to its unique star pattern, but the blue/white/blue pattern is shared with several national flags.