Corner of San Francisco and Route 66
The building proudly proclaims “Flagstaff” for all the world to see. Convenient benches allow you to sit in front of that sign and gaze upon a statue that is forever laboring for the railroad. It is a small sanctuary where you can look in all directions and see the many aspects of Flagstaff represented.
You can see the railroad, its buildings and assorted paraphernalia that helped to keep Flagstaff from vanishing off the face of the frontier long ago.
You can look down the south side of San Francisco and see a small cornucopia of coffee houses, bakeries and buildings that speak of an old city that refuses to let go of its roots.
Across Route 66 you see signs of a great thoroughfare of decades past. Storefronts still hold the look of the era in which they were built.
Right in front of you is the statue. It is more than a man working hard to drive spikes into the rails that will one day become the lifeblood of Flagstaff. It is a statue that represents all women and men of the past who struggled to build Flagstaff year after year. It is the women and men of today who continue that struggle, etching out their existences in a small city through hard work and perseverance.
Sitting in this small garden of history offers an understanding of Flagstaff. It is to me one of the most special places in this city because what it says to the eye silently is louder than the blaring whistles of the trains that pass by each day. What it says, that is for each individual to hear on their own.