Walkway of Flags

When Flagstaff marked its 1994 centennial, the city lined this walkway with the flags of every state and of its sister cities, a civic gesture linking a former railroad outpost to the wider world. The display nods to the town's founding legend, a ponderosa stripped bare to fly the colors, but its real subject is a century of growth, funded partly by residents honoring their home states. Popular from the day it was unveiled, the walkway stayed up long after the centennial year ended.

What the plaque says

Walkway of Flags. Flags have been important to the history of Flagstaff. It was a pine tree used as a flag staff that gave the town its name when Old Glory was flown at a spring (that later became the site of Flagstaff) on the occasion of the nation's centennial, July 4, 1876., When the city celebrated its own centennial during the year 1994, the City Council and Centennial Commission decided to fly the flags of every state, and the flags of Flagstaff's sister cities as a way of showing how Flagstaff has progressed from an isolated outpost to a modern city connected with the world. Some of the money for the flags came from individual donors who wanted to honor their home states, and some came from city funds., The flags were unveiled during a ceremony held on January 2, 1994, kicking off the Flagstaff Centennial events. They were immediately so popular with residents and visitors alike that in November 1994, the City Council and Centennial Commission decided to continue to fly the flags during good weather beyond the Centennial year., Flagstaff City Council: Mayor Chris Bavasi, John F. Cavolo, Allen D. Edgar, Rita Johnson, Rick Lopez, John C. McCulloch, Richard Swanson, Centennial Commission: Nancy Cannon, John Taylor Coe, Robert Coody, Sandi Cevereko, Christine Dicob, Paul Ferlazzo, J. D. Hoyt, Thomas Huntington, Theresa Kelley, Richard Mangum, Sherry Mangum, Lois Morel, Ava Stone, Jerome Williams - Chair, Martin Zanzucchi, Kris Swanson-Special Events Coordinator

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Flagstaff — steps away
  The ponderosa town where they found Pluto and saved the dark
• San Francisco Peaks — 10 mi
  The sacred mountain of the west — 12,633 feet, and a live argument
• Walnut Canyon National Monument — 11 mi
  Sinagua cliff dwellings in the limestone — the Hisatsinom
• Sunset Crater Volcano — 14 mi
  The volcano northern Arizona watched erupt, around 1085

More markers nearby

• The Milligan House — steps away
• Methodist Episcopal Church — steps away
• Flagstaff — steps away
• Logging Wheels — steps away