"Many legends surround the name of this northern Arizona city. The first settler was Edward Whipple, who operated a saloon near Flagstaff Spring in 1871. In 1876 the second white man to settle in the area arrived. He was F. F. McMillen, who settled north of the present Flagstaff. On earlier military maps, the only springs noted in this area are Leroux Spring and San Francisco Spring, but on G.L.O. 1879 appears the name Antelope Spring, which was probably that used by McMillen.
A few months after McMillen arrived, a group of scouts camped near the spring. They were the advance party for a contingent of settlers who had signed up in Boston as prospective settlers of the West. The scouting group found an open valley in which was a lone pine. The tree was too great a temptation to be passed by, so the youths lopped off its branches, paced a leather hoop at the top and ran an American flag up the pole. A clipping (no date or name of paper given) in the State Library files said in a story written by Al Doyle of Flagstaff that the flag was raised late in May 1876. Others claim it was raised to celebrate the centenary of the signing of the Declaration of Independance. In any event, the emigrants did not remain in the area, but pushed westward. A third version is that a military detachment en route may have been responsible for stripping a tree and thus creating a flagstaff. Earl O. Slipher of Flagstaff has an old photograph which shows such a topped tree with a plank nailed to it and with signs of having a had a flag attached to the tree. This is authenticated by the reminiscences of Lee Newman, a pioneer, who told of seeing such a tree west and north of Old Town Spring, near the point of the present Mars Hill. Newman was acquainted with all the original settlers in the area, who numbered fewer than twenty in 1880. A further account, written five years after Flagstaff was estabished, states definately that the flagstaff was still one mile east of town and that it had been erected by Lt. E.F. Beale's men in 1859. Five years later (1892) the pole was gone.
The names of the spring at the old location underwent several name changes, starting with Antelope, then Flagstaff, and then--with the creation of the new town and railroad--becoming Old Town Spring. In 1882, there were ten buildings at Old Town, but in 1883 business moved to the new railroad depot and by 1884 Old Town was almost deserted. When the post office was established at the new location, the name Flagstaff was the natural choice. In 1891 Flagstaff became the seat of the newly creatd Coconino County."
P.O. EST. February 21, 1881. Incorporated as a town June 4, 1894, as a city, 1928.
Barnes, Will C.; Granger, Byrd (ed.) Arizona
Place Names University of Arizona Press. 1960.
p. 70.
Arizona Department of Commerce- Flagstaff, Arizona
http://www.commerce.state.az.us/pdf/commasst/comm/flagstaf.pdf
Flagstaff, Arizona Local Government Website
http://www.flagstaff.az.us
History of Flagstaff, Arizona
http://www.desertusa.com/Cities/az/flagstaff.html
The Arizonan.com Flagstaff, Arizona
http://www.arizonan.com/Flagstaff/
Northern Arizona University
http://www.nau.edu
History of NAU
http://jeff.scott.tripod.com/nau.html
Yavapai Community College
http://www.yavapai.cc.az.us/ychome.nsf/pages/home
Flagstaff City-Coconino County Public Library
300 West Aspen Ave. Flagstaff, Arizona 86001
928-779-7670
http://www.flagstaffpubliclibrary.org/libraryinfo.htm
Arizona Historical Society- Northern Arizona Division (Pioneer Museum)
2340 North Fort Valley Road, Flagstaff, Arizona
(520) 774-6272
http://www.infomagic.net/~ahsnad/index.html
Museum of Northern Arizona
3101 N. Fort Valley Rd., Flagstaff, AZ 86001
520-774-5213
Open daily 9 AM - 5 PM
http://www.musnaz.org/
Riordan Mansion State Historic Park
409 Riordan Rd FLAGSTAFF AZ
(520) 779-4395
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Arizona
Daily Sun
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Listing of Flagstaff City Newspapers (1883-Present) on the ASU
Library Catalog
AN2
.F5 C6x FILM
Arizona champion [microform] : A.E. Fay, 1883-1891.
Continued by
The Coconino sun [microform] C.M. Funston, 1891.
Continued by
Coconino Weekly Sun C.M. Funston, 1891-1896.
Continued by
The Flagstaff sun-democrat [microform] Jones & Jackson,
1896-1897.
Continued by
The Skylight kicker [microform] R.H. & J.E. Jones, 1897.
Continued by Flagstaff Gem and Coconino County Democrat
The Coconino sun. C.M. Funston, 1898-1978.
Absorbed by
Arizona daily sun. Coconino Sun Co., 1946-Present
Books/Manuscripts found in the ASU Library Catalog
Cowboys, lumberjacks, and frontier justice / by Beverly C. Bishop.
Biography of a small mountain / Donna Ashworth. :
Flagstaff, 1876-1976 : a random collection of antique photographs & writings / by the Flagstaff Symphony Guild for the Flagstaff Centennial Celebration, 1976. :
The House of Babbitt : a business history of the Babbitt Brothers Trading Company, 1886-1926 / by Abdorrahim Akbarzadeh.
Mountain town : Flagstaff's first century / by Platt Cline ; with a foreword by Bruce Babbitt. :
They came to the mountain : the story of Flagstaff's beginnings / by Platt Cline. :
Last Updated: July 16, 2002
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