[1] The three white background areas of the flag represent, from top to bottom, the North, West, and South sides of the city.

The following reasons have been suggested for possible additions of a fifth star: Per the Municipal Code of Chicago, it is unlawful to use the flag, or any imitation or design thereof, except for the usual and customary purposes of decoration or display.

829 projects were submitted to the competition and the winner was a Danish architect who’d recently moved to Chicago, to design buildings for the World’s Fair, Alfred Råvad (who also used an Americanized spelling of his name, Roewad).

[6][18] In 1915, Mayor William Hale Thompson appointed a municipal flag commission chaired by Alderman James A. Kearns.

Parker asked lecturer and poet Wallace Rice to develop the rules for an open public competition for the best flag design.

[citation needed] The flag was adopted in 1917 after the design by Wallace Rice won a City Council sponsored competition.