Chicago Flag

4 red, six-pointed stars appear between two light-blue (cyan) bars, all before a white background.
 

This button shows the municipal flag of the City of Chicago. The official flag was originally adopted in 1917 and amended in 1933 and 1939 when two additional stars were added. The cyan and white bars represent geographical features of the city: the cyan stripes for Lake Michigan and the North Branch of the Chicago River; the top, middle, and bottom white bars for the North, West, and South Sides, respectively. The four red, six-pointed stars symbolize four historically significant events in the city's history: 1. Fort Dearborn and the massacre of settlers and destruction that took place there in 1812; 2. the Great Chicago Fire of 1871; 3. the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893; and 4. the Century of Progress Exposition of 1933-34. Each of the star's six points represents a unique value, attribute, or historical fact about the city as well.