what do the white stripes on the chicago flag stand for
Flag of Chicago The three white background areas of the flag represent, from top to bottom, the North, West and South sides of the city. The top blue stripe represents Lake Michigan and the North Branch of the Chicago River. The bottom blue stripe represents the South Branch of the river and the "Great Canal", over the Chicago Portage.[2] The lighter blue on the flag is variously called sky blue[3] or pale blue;[4] in a 1917 article of a speech by Rice, it was called "the color of water".[5][6]