If Chicago’s flag had a fifth star, what would it represent? On the city’s current flag, the four red stars stand for notable events in the city’s history. The original city flag, adopted in 1917, had two stars to mark the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 and the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. The third and fourth stars were added in the 1930s to represent the 1933–34 Century of Progress Exposition and Fort Dearborn.

In the Fifth star challenge, discover highlights from the city’s past, cast your vote, and see how your choice stacks up. While in the gallery, be sure to look beneath your feet and explore Chicagoland on our wall-to-wall floor map.

For the health and safety of visitors, the Museum will provide styluses to use with this interactive that will be sanitized in between uses.

The Museum is grateful to the Guild of the Chicago History Museum, Allstate, and Marcia S. Cohn and the Jacob and Rosaline Cohn Foundation for making possible the projects in the updated Naphtali ben Yakov Pritzker American History Wing.