Geographic/Botanical
Flagstaff
Arizona (AZ)est. 1876pop. 76,831/FLAG-staf/
The meaning
“A pole for a flag”
How it got the name
On July 4, 1876 — the nation's centennial — a party of scouts from Boston stripped the branches off a tall ponderosa pine and raised the American flag on it. The bare trunk stayed standing as a landmark on the wagon road, and travelers began calling the spot 'the flag staff.'
Disputed / alternate theory
A competing account credits a different 1876 party, or a signal pole raised for a later railroad survey.
Former names
- Antelope Spring
- Flagstaff