The Students’ Flagstaff

NAU: Home of the Lumberjacks

The Flagstaff campus of Arizona’s state university system is Northern Arizona University. Although founded in 1899 as a teacher college, t rapidly acquired a concentration in forestry, which was at the time the major industry in the area. Though its focus has over the years become as general as any other public research university, the neatly manage forests that surround Flagstaff attest to this early orientation.

On campus

With 707 acres of campus, there is room for spacious athletic fields

At the pioneer Riordan House:, this zigzag fencing required no posts
An old fire hose reel
The back of Old Main

In town

Students bring a lively vibe to central Flagstaff. The historic Old Town buildings make ideal refurbs for student-focused business.

The blocks alongSan Francisco and Beaver Streets are the locus of off-campus life
It wouldn’t be a student quarter if it doesn’t have a message board
A mural on Old Route 66
Nature is never far away in Flagstaff

Lowell Observatory

Astronomer Percival Lowell founded this observatory in the mid-19th century after the Union Pacific Railroad made it possible to bring large telescopes and construction equipment to Flagstaff. Heir to a Boston fortune, Lowell supervised the construction himself.

Percival Lowell is buried here
The NAU student observatory
The concentric viewing platform are for looking throughthe telescope
The 24-inch Clark telescope is one of the last professional instruments designed to be ‘looked through’. After 1890, telescopes came to be designed for photography and most recently, digital sensing.
The wooden dome of the Clark rests on a ring of truck wheels
Outside, solar panels provide some of the power