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The flag of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is a depiction of the Milwaukee skyline with a red boat in front of it, a grain of wheat on the hoist, a white gear with an Indian head, a steel worker, and another depiction of a flag, and the words "1846" on the fly, with the word "Milwaukee" on the bottom.
Symbolism[]
The giant gear represents the industrial nature of Milwaukee, the Indian head represents the City's Indian origin, their culture and libraries, the depiction of a flag, her military service, and the steel worker - her great manufacturing. The plumes of smoke from the factories lead the eye to a great ship seen in the front and riding the waves of blue Lake Michigan. This stands for the city's great stature as a port, not only of the Great Lakes but now of the world. The three buildings to the right remind us of Milwaukee's greatest treasure, homes, churches, and schools. The date 1846 marks Milwaukee's incorporation as a city, and it is balanced on the left by a stylized stalk of barley, symbolic of our city's best known industry [beer]. Next to the golden grain is our great new stadium pointing to the fame recently won by Milwaukee in the world of baseball and to her long history as a sports-loving community. Finally there is the Arena, home not only of sports and other entertainment, but of the many great conventions that are held yearly in the best governed big city in America.[1]
2004 NAVA Survey[]
The flag ranked 147th on the 2004 NAVA city flag survey, with a score of 1.59 out of 10, behind Mesa, and ahead of Rapid City.
History[]
First proposals[]
The first attempt to introduce a civic flag came in an 1897 Milwaukee Journal contest. The winning entry included an oak branch with the motto "Steady Progress" over a cream-colored field. The design was praised by then-mayor William C. Rauschenberger, who lost reelection shortly thereafter. The flag was never officially used by the city.
Original city flag[]
In 1917, Alderman Frederick C. Bogk called for a city flag as part of an ambitious plan for Milwaukee's growth, along with expanding the harbor, investing in infrastructure, preserving residential districts, and annexing the innermost suburbs. The flag never came to fruition.
In 1927, the Common Council adopted the city's first official city flag, a field of Alice blue with the city seal in golden orange in the center. The flag was given to the Milwaukee Police Department to be carried in parades, and quickly fell into disuse. The following year, the Hamburg America cruise line decided to christen its newest ship the MS Milwaukee. The company requested Milwaukee's city flag be brought to Germany for her launching ceremony. Rather than send the Alice blue flag introduced just the year before, the city considered a new flag design, incorporating alternating angled bars of green and blue emblazoned with a cream-colored "M" over a red circle.
1950 re-design contest[]
Efforts continued to introduce a new city flag. In 1942, Alderman Fred P. Meyers introduced a new resolution in the Common Council proposing "a special city flag committee composed of aldermen and public-spirited citizens who, with the co-operation of the art commission and other art institutions would be commissioned to recommend a design to be ready for Milwaukee's one hundred birthday" on January 31, 1946. The anniversary came and went without any action from the council. In the 1950s, Alderman Meyers re-introduced his proposed bill. Milwaukee leaders discovered it was one of only four cities with a population over 500,000 without a flag, and so the city held a contest for flag designs. The winner was 17-year old Milwaukeean Alfred P. Dannenmann, who created a flag featuring three interlocking gears labeled "HOMES", "INDUSTRY", and "SHIPPING" between a banner reading "MILWAUKEE" and the date "1846". Dannenmann was awarded a $100 savings bond, but his design was not officially adopted by the city. Instead, the city's art commission decided to design a new flag itself, incorporating elements of several entries from the previous year's contest. Former alderman Fred Steffan combined elements of some of the better entries to create the flag.
1975 re-design contest[]
In 1975 the city held another contest for a new flag design. Lee Tishler, a Milwaukee Public Museum employee, won with a bright yellow banner featuring symbols of civic life. Although Tishler was awarded the contest's prize of a $100 savings bond in a ceremony at City Hall, his flag was not adopted.
2001 re-design contest[]
In 2001, the Milwaukee Arts Board of the Milwaukee Common Council held a contest to attract designs for a new flag. Over 105 designs were submitted, but none met with the approval of the board, and the old design was kept.
"The People's Flag"[]
In 2015, in response to negative media coverage spurred by a 99% Invisible episode, Steve Kodis, a local graphic designer, partnered with Greater Together, an AIGA-affiliated non-profit, to launch a flag contest called "The People's Flag of Milwaukee". The public submitted 1,006 entries, from which five finalists were chosen in 2016. In an online poll of over 6,000 people, a design called "Sunrise Over the Lake" received the highest rating of the five. The flag's design is described as follows:
The rising sun over Lake Michigan symbolizes a new day. The light blue bars in its reflection represent the city's three rivers ... and three founding towns ... . Gold represents our brewing history and white symbolizes peace.
The organizers of the contest released the design into the public domain, deciding to let the flag gain popular acceptance before pushing for official recognition. Since its introduction, the People's Flag has been adopted by local businesses and used on commercial products from bicycles to microbrew labels. The Milwaukee Brewers sell merchandise featuring a combination of the flag image and their retro Milwaukee Brewers ball-in-glove logo.
On July 19, 2018, the Milwaukee Common Council's Steering and Rules Committee took up a proposal to designate the People's Flag of Milwaukee as the city's new official flag. That committee voted 6–2 to revisit the proposal at another meeting by the end of the year. In November of that year the City of Milwaukee's Arts Board said the original search for a new flag was not inclusive enough, as at least one Milwaukee politician charged that the process had not made enough efforts to include individuals without internet access, and that the flag may go back to the drawing board.
New Proposals[]
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