First and second flag

The city's first municipal flag was designed by city council member William Johnson in 1911 and approved by a commission appointed by Mayor Samuel "Lew" Shank. The flag's unveiling was scheduled for July 4, 1911; however, it was reported that no one attended the ceremony as most residents were elsewhere greeting President William Howard Taft who was visiting Indianapolis for the Independence Day holiday.^[3]

A revised version of the first flag was designed by Harry B. Dynes and adopted by Common Council on June 21, 1915. The flag's design appears to draw inspiration from the American flag. The design divided the flag vertically into two sections. The first section (two-fifths of the flag's length) displays a dark blue field overlaid by a white ring with four white diagonal spokes radiating toward each of the section's four corners, representing the city's four diagonal avenues from Alexander Ralston's 1821 Plat of the Town of Indianapolis (Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, and Virginia) meeting at Monument Circle. Eight white stars set in this section represent the city's four appointed boards (public works, public safety, health, and parks) and four elected officers (city clerk, controller, judge, and board of school commissioners). A large white star centered on the circle is overlaid by the city's corporate seal in gold, representing the mayor. Nine horizontal stripes occupy the remaining three-fifths of the flag, alternating red and white, representing each common council seat.^[4][1][5]

The flag proved unpopular, having never been fabricated until 1960.^[6] The design's shortcomings included a tiny city seal that was difficult to decipher, eight seemingly arbitrary stars, and a visual resemblance to variants of the Confederate battle flag.^[7]

Third flag

In 1962, city leaders recognized the need for a modern flag. The Greater Indianapolis Information Committee sponsored a contest to create a new one, with a prize of $50 and lunch with Mayor Albert H. Losche for the winning entrant.^[8] A three-person selection committee was composed of Richard Beck, art director for Eli Lilly and Company; Pierre & Wright architect, Edward D. Pierre; and Wilbur D. Peat, painter, writer, and director of the Indianapolis Museum of Art.^[7] Designs were judged on criteria of "simplicity, good visibility, and appropriateness".^[3]

Roger E. Gohl, an 18-year-old student at the John Herron Art Institute, submitted a design after one of his instructors, Loren Dunlap, encouraged his students to enter.^[9] Gohl's winning design was selected from a pool of 75 submissions.^[3] Unlike the flag's current symmetric cross design, Gohl's original design had the circle and vertical stripe offset to the left rather than being centered; he was unaware of the change until he returned to visit the city in 1969.^[10]

The city flag assumed a new role as the de facto, though not de jure, symbol of Marion County on January 1, 1970, when the City of Indianapolis and Marion County merged their respective governments.^[6]

A 2004 survey of flag design quality by the North American Vexillological Association ranked Indianapolis's flag 8th best of 150 American city flags. It earned a score 8.35 out of 10.^[11]

Inconsistency

According to municipal code, the four white stripes radiating from the center white circle represent the streets of Market and Meridian, which intersect with Monument Circle.^[12] However, in media accounts, the stripes are said to represent the intersection of Meridian and Washington streets (half a block south of Monument Circle), allegedly a nod to the city's official slogan of the Crossroads of America.^{[13][2][7][9]}