Erik Moe: Critic at Large

I’m about a decade early on this one, but it just came to mind while I was perusing the recent “Essential Chicago Lists” edition of Time Out Chicago. The issue included a list of fascinating (to design and history geeks) facts about Chicago’s flag. I’ve learned to love the municipal standard’s simple design since moving here, but somehow never asked what its four stars represented. I assumed that it must represent territory of some sort, as with the 50 U.S. stars, but it turns out that each represents an important event in Chicago’s history.

When the flag was created in 1917 there were two stars, one for the 1871 fire and one for the 1893 World’s Fair. In 1933 a star was added for Chicago’s second (and less noteworthy) World’s Fair. In 1939 a star was added to commemorate the Fort Dearborn Massacre of 1812 (well before the city was founded).

All of this means that it has been 74 years since anything star-worthy has happened here. Since half the stars are for tragedies, we can be half-thankful. At the same time, the symbolism of the stars seems to require that one be added every so often to show that the city is alive and still doing great things.

I might suggest adding a star for Sonic Youth’s recently announced performance of my favorite album of all time, “Daydream Nation,” in its entirety at this year’s Pitchfork music festival, but somehow I’m not sure the rest of the city would agree that this is as star-worthy. I can’t think of anything as potentially important to the city as the the two World’s Fairs other than an Olympics, so perhaps the ongoing bid for the 2016 games will bring with it a flag upgrade. Taking the next logical leap, in 1,000 years will there be twenty stars on the Chicago flag?