raising ceremony held on july 4, 1876, when the u.s. flag was nailed to the top of a ponderosa pine. learn more about flagstaff all weekend here on american history tv. >> they did a flag raising ceremony in 1876. became the name and flagstaff as a city has been established for about 135 years. >> we took a driving tour of the city with flagstaff communications specialist meg roderer. >> the flagstaff visitors center is located at the historic train station. it's an active train station. planeabout 80 to 100 that we see about 80 to 100

trains pass through flagstaff daily. we can go on america's road, america's main street, to see the history of flagstaff. industry was lumbar, railroad and ranching. with those three economic drivers of flagstaff, it really became a booming town in the early history. we have not pulled into the heart of flagstaff, the historic downtown. this is our san francisco street. you can see it is very busy with all the looking at things to see and do, shopping, dining, great breweries that we and all the historic buildings. as we go downtown you notice the -- hoteltaigne vista

monte this to, and this is where some of the movie "casablanca" was filmed, so this has a hollywood history, some of the rooms are actually named after hollywood stars and it is reported to be haunted. it's a great place to check out. building built by one of our early ranchers and settlers, that helped establish flagstaff as a community. brothers is a family that started flagstaff by bringing that economic driver to our community. that would've been in nearly 1900s. they are a working ranch still, active in the community, and really helped to bring flagstaff in its own, amongst other families. but we treasure the babbitt brothers and their contributions to the city of flagstaff.

this is the historic orpheum hotel. on the side of the building is mural,'s largest 4500 feet. it is called "the sound of flight." this is our heritage square. we have free movies during the it's a a concert series, great gathering spot. in front of us you have two tots, this is a great place have a tribute to our locomotive, railroad history. >> and like to ask you quickly but the railroad history. what was its significance and went did it come here? late 1890's,s, that is really what established flagstaff, the railroad because people could comment colin

-- thert the lumber and railroad, because people could calm and they could transport the lumber,. and now the major economic drivers in flagstaff our tourism, science, technology, education and government. and technology we are known for space and astronomy, and we have observatories all over the city. lowell observatory discovered pluto in 1930. that put us on the map, as one of the many things the observatories here in flagstaff have been involved with, with usgs and the naval observatory, the lowell observatory, the university observatory. we continue down south side and enter northern arizona university.

nau.all this and nau was established as northern arizona normal school in 1899, later known as northern arizona university as it is today. this is a blooming and vibrant student university. it has over 30,000 students. that includes the satellite campus and online students as well as students here in town. the university has done an amazing job of keeping the character of the university. we are on the north campus. you can see this classic flagstaff architecture with the red rocks, and that essence of university that has really kept its presence.

the university is a core component of flagstaff today. one of the iconic landmarks you see when you come to flagstaff is our beautiful mountain range, the san francisco peaks. aresan francisco peaks comprised of the humphreys peak, and the agassi peak. the humphreys peak is 12,006 hundred 30 feet, the highest peak in arizona. so we are up here in elevation. >> how far i'll go from the grand canyon? is the grand canyon? from the only 80 miles grand canyon. this is what we recommend. stay in flagstaff, have breakfast in flagstaff, drive to the grand canyon, have lunch at the grand canyon, enjoy hiking and biking and come back and ine a wonderful dinner

flagstaff and then go stargazing at the lowell observatory. awesome day. our cities to her staff recently traveled to flagstaff, arizona to learn about it rich history. learn more about flagstaff and other stops on our tour you are watching american history tv all weekend, every weekend on c-span3. war," author and historian kent masterson brown on union commander george gordon meade and the gettysburg campaign. ms. hour-long talk is part of the annual summer conference hosted by the gettysburg college .ivil institute i >>