In 1976, Chicago journalism hall of famer Kenan Heise offered up 10 moments in city history worthy of a fifth star as a way to make our flag “grander,” including opening Chicago’s first public school in 1835, completion of the Illinois and Michigan Canal and Chicago’s first railroad in 1848, the 1860 presidential nomination of Abraham Lincoln, reversing the Chicago River’s flow in 1900, sending Al Capone to prison in 1931. Daley said he planned to explore an idea floated by the Tribune to add a star to the city’s flag symbolizing the start of the atomic age with the first nuclear reaction that occurred beneath the University of Chicago's football stadium in 1942. The additional two stars - one each for Chicago’s world’s fairs - were an afterthought, according to the Tribune.Īnd for generations since there’s been a lot of talk - yet no action - about adding that fifth star. Originally, Chicago’s flag - designed by journalist, author and poet Wallace Rice in 1917 - only had two stars. And each of the six points of the four stars has its own significance. The two dividing blue bars represent Lake Michigan and both branches of the Chicago River. There’s simply no denying the simplistic beauty of the Chicago flag - a white base divided into thirds symbolizing the North, West and South sides of town.
I'd be willing to bet Chicago flag tattoos outnumber Washington, D.C., flag tattoos 3-to-1, at least. One could argue the best way to measure a flag's style and popularity is by how often people get one tattooed on their skin. Sure, some flag geeks - they’re called vexillologists - ranked Washington, D.C.’s red-and-white two-star banner designed after George Washington’s coat of arms ahead of Chicago’s flag.īut what do a bunch of vexillologists know about what’s cool? Last week, I found one - and the story that goes with it.īut before we get to that, let’s make one thing perfectly clear - Chicago has the greatest city flag in America.
So, the five-star Chicago flag was a powerful conversation starter at Shaw's inn, even though he couldn't tell them exactly what the extra star symbolized because technically it isn't supposed to exist.Įver since then, I casually searched for the Chicago flag that never was. Dearborn, the Great Chicago Fire, World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893 and the Century of Progress exposition in 1933-34.
The Windy City Urban Inn paid tribute to the city’s literary scene - each room decorated to honor a great writer: Mike Royko, Nelson Algren and Saul Bellow among them.Īnd outside, the Shaws hung a rare city banner - a five-star Chicago flag.īack during my days in the City Hall press corps, Shaw told me the story of his Chicago flag with the extra star that his wife picked up at an estate sale.Īnyone who's seen a hipster’s Chicago flag tattoo knows our city's flag has only four six-point stars - one each for Ft. CHICAGO - A dozen years ago, then-TV reporter Andy Shaw and his wife, Mary, tended to a cozy bed-and-breakfast on quiet Deming Street in posh Lincoln Park.