Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Citius, Altius, Fortius


Today the city of Chicago unveiled it's new logo for
it's bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics. They had to
change their previous logo because it included a torch
design which apparently is a no-no. In place of the
torch is a six pointed star which is fairly recognizable
(to Chicagoans at least) as the star on the city flag.
This makes me happy, the vexillologist that I am.
It recently finished second in a contest rating best
flags of cities in the United States (Washington DC
finished first). What many people don't know
(some Chicagoans included) is that each item on the
flag is symbolic:



The Municipal Flag of Chicago consists of 3 White stripes
separated by two stripes of Blue with four Red six-pointed
stars on the center stripe of White:

The 3 White stripes:

Top White Stripe represents the North side of the city.
Center White Stripe represents the West side of the city.
Bottom White Stripe represents the South side of the city.

The 2 Blue stripes:

Top Blue stripe represents Lake Michigan and the North
Branch of the Chicago River.
Bottom Blue stripe represents the South Branch of the
Chicago River and the Great Canal.

The 4 Red stars on the Center White Stripes represent something
as well as each of the points on the stars themselves:

The First Red Star represents Fort Dearborn (added in 1939).
The Points of the First Red Star Signify:
* transportation
* labor
* commerce
* finance
* populousness
* salubrity

The Second Red Star represents the Chicago Fire of October
8-10, 1871.
The Points of the Second Red Star Signify:
* religion
* education
* esthetics
* justice
* beneficence
* civic pride

The Third Red Star represents the World's Columbian
Exposition of 1893.
The Points of the Third Red Star Signify History of the Area:
* France 1693
* Great Britain 1763
* Virginia 1778
* Northwest Territory 1798
* Indian Territory 1802
* Illinois Statehood 1818

The Fourth Red Star represents the Century of Progress
Exposition of 1933 (added in 1933).
The Points of the Fourth Red Star Signify:
* World's Third Largest City
* City's Latin Motto
* I will Motto
* Great Central Market
* Wonder City
* Convention City

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Salubrity...that's a sweet word.

Tom said...

That's scary...I don't even know what it means

Anonymous said...

That looks a lot like the Israeli flag!