Proposed Milwaukee Flag Design
This flag represents one of the most iconic moments in Milwaukee's history, the 1845 Bridge War. My artistic inspirations were the American and British flags. The British flag because we gained our independence from them in 1776 and the American flag because the stars represent union between the states and that is exactly why the Bridge Wars stopped, because the founders didn't want to fight anymore. The medium for the project is ink on paper.
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- Artist Inspiration -
- Research -
- The Stars and Stripes -
The Stars resemble the founding fathers of Milwaukee, Byron Kilbourn, Solomon Juneau, and George Walker. Kilbourn establish the town Kilbourntown on the west side of the Milwaukee river. Juneau established the east side town Juneautown, and Walker made a trading post south of the river in what later was named the 5th Ward or Walker's Point. In 1845 the maintenance and cost disagreement between the east side and west side cause the west side to remove the west side of the bridge and caused damage to the east half of the bridge.
In 1846 after nearly a decade of fighting, the conflict was finally resolved by both the west and east side submitting due to the destruction and injuries of the citizens.
The Stars resemble the founding fathers of Milwaukee, Byron Kilbourn, Solomon Juneau, and George Walker. Kilbourn establish the town Kilbourntown on the west side of the Milwaukee river. Juneau established the east side town Juneautown, and Walker made a trading post south of the river in what later was named the 5th Ward or Walker's Point. In 1845 the maintenance and cost disagreement between the east side and west side cause the west side to remove the west side of the bridge and caused damage to the east half of the bridge.
In 1846 after nearly a decade of fighting, the conflict was finally resolved by both the west and east side submitting due to the destruction and injuries of the citizens.
- Process -
At first I wanted to base the design sort of off the flag of the Knights Templar, approximately from around 1119–1312. Just because of the power of the symbol and what it stands for, that being world peace by following under one leader.
Sort of like Chicago's flag, I wanted to give recognition to some of the most memorable tragedies in Milwaukee since its founding.
- top left star - 1845 Bridge War
- bottom left star - May 5, 1886 Bay view Massacre
- top right star - October 28, 1892 Great 3rd Ward Fire
- bottom right star - November 24, 1917 Police Station Bombing
Then I realized hey, that was taken by Chicago. So I tried to emphasized our divided history by trying to incorporate difference into the flag design.
- top star - Byron Kilbourn's west side
- bottom star - Solomon Juneau's east side
- red line - Milwaukee river (Bridge War)
Then I remembered that Kilbourn and Juneau were not the only founders. George Walker own the trading post just south of the Milwaukee river, and his 1/3 of the Milwaukee territory was part of the future Milwaukee. So now...
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Reflection
- Citations -
- http://www.milwaukeehistory.net/education/milwaukee-timeline/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knights_Templar#Organization
- http://milwaukeeriverkeeper.org/milwaukees-bridge-war/