cleveland flag

Cleveland, Ohio, is a comeback city. Settled in 1796 where the winding Cuyahoga River meets Lake Erie’s southern shore, Cleveland has been a major industrial and port city for more than 200 years. Today, people are moving into Cleveland. New industry, tourism and attitude make Cleveland an upcoming and exciting place to live and work. Cleveland is making its comeback.

This new Cleveland flag design is a standard of proud blue. At the right end, a white horizontal chevron, reminiscent of the Ohio flag’s famous burgee or notched swallowtail flag, offsets a red triangular field. To the left of the white chevron, an invisible blue chevron, the same width as the white chevron, obscures part of a white circle to reveal a white C shape for Cleveland. This is again a design nod to the Ohio flag which has a white circle for Ohio. The invisible blue chevron represents Cleveland’s past. The blue chevron occludes part of the white circle to reshape it into a C for Cleveland. The city’s past shaped Cleveland into the city it is today. The past informs the present, but cannot be allowed to dictate the future. Inside the Cleveland C is a white star. The star is the North Star, which is used for navigation and wayfinding. Its presence on the flag is a callback to the city’s maritime history on Lake Erie. It represents navigation, guidance and hope, important themes for the city’s continued progress and prosperity.

White represents community. Blue represents pride. The red represents integrity.

The flag’s red, white and blue color scheme connects it to the Ohio flag and United States of America flag.

This new Cleveland, Ohio, flag redesign is built on a 1:6 grid. See how this flag design compares to other Ohio city flags.