NAU is Straight and Narrow

Northern Arizona University is one of the three state universities, but the geography of the campus is quite different. Arizona State University in Tempe and the University of Arizona in Tucson both have an area that is classified as the “mall” in the center of campus. The mall is used for student gatherings, tailgating, protests and is considered a place for the student body to hang out. However, NAU lacks this geographical feature that most campuses throughout the country have.

NAU is surrounded by cemeteries which makes the campus unique all on its own, but in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s when Dr. J. Lawrence Walkup was expanding the campus he did so strategically due to world affairs. Students were coming together to protest the Vietnam War throughout the country and Walkup intended to keep the campus quiet. In comparison to the other two Universities who would gather on their malls to protest and voice their opinions, NAU was the quietest of the three universities.

The campus began to extended towards the south it was as though the northern and southern parts of campus were a simplified of Medieval town models. This set up was because Walkup had intentionally designed the campus to be long and skinny with dining halls on each end of the campus as well as libraries with dorms and classrooms surrounding them. This allowed for separation and kept NAU’s campus and the quiet little mountain town of Flagstaff peaceful.

Today the campus has still kept its narrow stature, but NAU seems to be looking for new outlooks to expand. It's most recent expansion has been to use the former Beaver Street elementary school as classrooms and offices for the Liberal Arts department. The school was originally built by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) which was a relief program during the Great Depression. Although, the campus has not expanded much to the east and west of the current campus it has taken over many of the grassy fields to add new buildings. As the campus expands and accepts more students it will be interesting to see how the shape of the campus will change in the future.

Classical Architecture on Aspen Street

The Romans popularized the construction of the structural arch, but did not invent the concept. After doing some research it should be noted that ancient Egyptians, Babylonians, and Greeks all used the arch, although it was ineffective. The Romans purpose for the arch was to support or strengthen a building. Most arches consist of wedge-shaped blocks. The top center stone, called the keystone. This is the last block to be inserted and can be seen in the bottom photo of the arches. In Flagstaff the Hotel Monte Vista is yet another railroad hotel. This hotel is across the street from the Babbitt Brother's Store, but can be seen from many places in Flagstaff, because of it's tall sign. Roman architecture is very apparent on the outside of the building's arched windows. This was a common style of Architecture in the late 1800's in America, thus appeared as Flagstaff began to grow. The arch is one of the strongest forms of architecture, and Flagstaff is on a fault line. Although, earthquakes are not prevalent this adds strength to the structure, should one occur.

You can see the arches in the photos above. The Romans popularized the arch at the beginning of C.E. (Common Era).

History in the Making

Downtown Flagstaff is a window into the past, present, and future. Many of the small town’s encounters are students and locals. However in the summertime the students are replaced with tourists as most students retreat to their hometowns. Standing on the corner of Leroux and Aspen looking up at the Weatherford Hotel, that has a story of its own. The Weatherford Hotel was originally a railroad hotel when its doors opened in 1900, but today it has been restored and houses many of Flagstaff’s tourists. Although the hotel has quite an extensive history, today the hotel is popular, because of its “ghost stories,” New Years pinecone drop, and the bar Charlie’s located on the 1^st floor.

Above is a photo the Weatherford Hotel today.

As you walk East on Aspen the right side of the street is filled with unique businesses and café’s, but each one tells its own story as you peak through the window. These businesses as well as the others in the historic downtown have the same color scheme which consists of tan, black and brick red. All the buildings are covered in masonry of brick or stone. Across the street there are a few businesses, but sandwiched in between the AG Edwards Building and Babbitt's Backcountry Outfitters store is Heritage Square. This is more or less the stage for the downtown area, on the weekends people gather here, movies are shown here, and other town functions. However, at the back of this social stage is a restaurant called Diablo Burger, which has been named the best hamburger in Flagstaff. They have very unique burgers that are served on an English muffin, but this hidden burger joint leads to an ally-way that is the gateway to the Market Place, which is another area of shops and restaurants. However, as you continue down Aspen you will come to San Francisco Street and on that corner is the Babbitt store. This is significant, because the Babbitt’s expanded and went to the mall when it came to Flagstaff, but couldn’t afford both stores and in 1987 closed the store on Aspen and San Francisco. However, this store and many others are open today through the revival of the downtown in the last few decades.

A photo standing across the street from the Babbitt Brothers Store.

As you venture North on San Francisco Street you find “breaks" in the land going from small businesses to government use. Then as we turn onto Cherry Street there is an LDS church on the corner and the street curves as it leads you towards neighborhood. The church implies that Flagstaff is a religiously diverse community, because of the Baptist Church in the South Side neighborhood. This also alludes to diffusion of religious ideas from Utah. The general grid pattern is lost once you enter the residential area, but this is likely to distract your eye toward the street as well provide the idea of “private property.” The neighborhood is not directly connected to the grid system and curves and winds as you enter it which could keep tourists from wandering around the neighborhood as well. These houses are surrounded by trees which help seclude them and make each property private. As you go further up the hill the houses get bigger, giving the idea that the owners had more power economically and physically, because of where their houses are situated.

Historic Downtown Flagstaff is alive and the place to be in the 21^st century through the economy of the local residents, tourists, and college students.

Flagstaff's Southside neighborhood

The Southside neighborhood is just south of the train tracks in the small town of Flagstaff. The two streets that were observed for this analysis were, South San Francisco Street and Benton Avenue, which make an “L” within the neighborhood. Flagstaff began to grow because of the immigrants who traveled and moved there. This area of the town was often referred to as the “melting pot,” because of the accruing diverse population. The Basque and Hispanic people define the Southside of Flagstaff by integrating their culture simple lifestyles to the area. Based on history classes that I have taken and the date of 1939 on the church located on Benton Avenue. The church resembles that of European style which American’s strayed away from as they settled, building houses and business buildings that were more useful and economical. Flagstaff began to grow during and after World War II, because of the timber industry. The Railroad made it easy to transport the logs to different areas of the U.S., as well as an easy way for people to get to Flagstaff. Enough about the background though, Benton Avenue is a street full of small “A” frame style houses. These houses were most likely built for single families, but they appear to be on quite large lots. This alludes to the idea that the street has done some demolition, because the street is located on a flood plain, or that tenants used to use the land for animals, crops, or other necessities. The construction, use of basalt, lack of garage or car port indicates that these were lower class families that lived here, which makes sense due to the immigration pattern that was observed in Flagstaff.

On the contrary San Francisco Street is filled with small businesses. The architecture is simple, but the signs are neon and flashy to catch people’s attention today. In the mid 20^th century these signs would be non existence, so business owners would have to get people’s attention in other ways. Despite these signs, the architecture is very tall which alludes to vertical growth. Either businesses were on top of each other or Flagstaff was known as a “Walking City.” Walking Cities are tall buildings that have people living above the shops. The craftsman lives above the shop. The journey man, who is a skilled worker without tools, lives above the craftsman. The apprentices live at the top of the building. These types of buildings were common when establishing cities in the United States because it made it easy to walk to work. This is just speculation, but based on the architecture style it seems causable.

However, Flagstaff’s dynamic has changed a lot since mid 20^th century. Benton Avenue is now most likely occupied by college students, because of the amount of bikes and cars in front of each house. As well some of these houses have had additions to update the mid 20^th century outdated houses. Most of these houses haven’t had much upkeep though because they sit on a floodplain, but there is one exception to that. Recently a house on Benton Avenue has been built out of shipping containers. This house is eco-friendly, but baffles me, because Flagstaff’s historic downtown has such strict rules on the color scheme and signage that is used in front of each store. Despite the historic downtown regulations the house is one of a kind and has put Flagstaff on the map locally and globally. Today San Francisco has a multitude of businesses and it’s the street that connects to Northern Arizona University to downtown. This is essential to businesses, because students make up most of the population surrounding downtown today. Benton Avenue and San Francisco Street differ, but each offer significant attributes from the mid 20^th century and today that add to what makes up Flagstaff today!