Suggestions Submitted for the Guidance and Information of Contestants in the Public Competitive Contest for a Suitable Design of a Municipal Flag for the City of Chicago — Wallace Rice, 1916.

Suggestion 7.

The visibility at distances of the several colors and of the different portions of the flag itself should be taken into account in determining its proportions, rather than divisions of mathematical exactitude. In other words, it is the effect of symmetry, not the mere physical fact, which should be taken into account. The French, for example, after extensive experimentation, divide their tricolor so that the blue next the staff has thirty parts in a hundred, the white in the middle thirty-three parts, and the red in the fly thirty-seven, and thus secure the appearance of an equal division.

I suppose this explains why all the descriptions of the flag have tortured syntax — the “slightly less than a sixth” language. Rice wanted the white and blue stripes to appear to have the same width, and so they must be slightly different.

[In the Chicago Daily Tribune, Apr 4, 1939. p. 12]

Good, Better, Best Streets

Consider Good street, Better street, and Best avenue. The first two ran east from Aberdeen street one and two blocks respectively south of Polk street. They were only a block long. The first was rechristened Hope street in 1935 and is now known as Cabrini street. Best avenue [named Wilton avenue in 1937] is two blocks long running south from Diversey next east of the elevated railroad.

Walter B. Smith

It looks like Better street is now known as Arthington street.

[from the Chicago Daily Tribune, March 29th, 1917, p.13]

OFFER DESIGN FOR CITY FLAG; WHAT IT MEANS

Design for a Chicago Flag, to be emblematic of a robust municipal ideal, was submitted to the city council yesterday by the Chicago municipal flag commission, appointed by Mayor Thompson eighteen months ago. The commission describes the flag thus:

“Its uppermost stripe, of white, is eight inches broad; the second stripe, of blue, is nine inches; the central bar, of white, is eighteen inches, and the two lower stripes correspond with the uppermost two. Near the staff on the broad white stripe are two six pointed red stars, fourteen inches tall.”

“Viewed locally, the two blue stripes symbolize the Chicago river with its two branches and the three white bars represent the three sides of the city. The red stars stand for the Chicago fire and the World’s fair, two great influences on the city’s history. The six points in the first star stand for transportation, trade, finance, industry, populousness, and healthfulness; those in the second for religion, education, aesthetics, beneficence, justice and civism [sic].”

“Considered nationally, the blue stripes stand for the mountain ranges which flank the plain of which Chicago is the center. The central white bar stands for this plain and the two outer white bars for the Atlantic and Pacific coasts.”

The flag was designed by Wallace Rice, 2701 Best avenue.

This is just a little teaser for series of upcoming posts, where some surprising facts will be revealed:

• Proposed fifth stars for the Chicago Flag, including one that Richard J. Daley planned to “explore”.
• The original two stars on the flag might not represent what you thought!
• How sharp should the points on the stars be? Perhaps even sharper than you imagine!
• Alternative symbolism of the white and blue fields!

Stay tuned!

Jesse@Pandagon writes:

I found out last night that my hometown is the seventh most dangerous city in America.

I remember the night that I started to hate Dayton.

Yeah, I hate Dayton too. But hey, why isn’t Chicago on this list somewhere?

The methodology section of the report states:

Chicago and Other Illinois Cities: For several years, rape numbers submitted by cities in the state of Illinois have not met the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) guidelines. This remains the case with 2002 crime data. According to state statisticians, the state of Illinois tracks “sexual assault,” which includes not only female rapes, but also offenses such as male rape, sodomy, etc. For these reasons, Chicago and other Illinois cities once again are not found in this year’s Safest City rankings.

According to the FBI:

For UCR reporting purposes, can a male be raped?

No. The UCR Program defines forcible rape as “The carnal knowledge of a female forcibly and against her will” (p. 19). In addition, “By definition, sexual attacks on males are excluded from the rape category and must be classified as assaults or other sex offenses depending on the nature of the crime and the extent of injury” (p. 20). An assault is a Part I offense and would be reported on the Return A form. Sex offenses qualify as Part II offenses and would be reported on the appropriate age, sex, race form (pp. 96 and 142).

According to the Attorney General:

Illinois’ rate of forcible rape is 45 rapes per 100,000 people, which is significantly higher than the national average of 33 reported rapes per 100,000 people. (FBI, Uniform Crime Report 2002)

I was doing really well on tracking down exactly why Illinois lumps all of its sexual assaults together, and why and when the change was made, and how our Attorney General can cite FBI UCR rape statistics about Illinois that may or may not exist, but then I started getting distracted. See, this is why I’m not a very good blogger.

Looking through the Illinois Criminal Code, I found that the section on prostitution (720 ILCS 5/11‑14) begins with the line, “Any person who offers a person not his or her spouse […]” — I guess it’s okay to exchange money for sex as long as you’re married to the vendor. I also discovered we’ve got a fornication law still on the books, and also a “Sale of Maps Act”, which prohibits the “sale of current Illinois publications or highway maps published by the Secretary of State”. Both of these crimes are class B misdemeanors.