Observatory, Northern Arizona University, the United States Naval Observatory
Flagstaff Station (NOFS) and the United States Geological Survey's (USGS)
Flagstaff campus. Lowell Observatory continues to be an active astronomical
observatory and a popular visitors center which hosts educational displays and
tours. It has a distributed network of small telescopes which together create
images of celestial bodies with much higher resolutions than any other single
telescope can produce. Current research is involved in observations of
near-Earth phenomena such as asteroids and comets. The observatory is also
involved in a $30 million project with the Discovery Channel to build the
Discovery Channel Telescope, a sophisticated, ground-based telescope with
advanced optical capabilities for future projects. Lowell Observatory and NOFS
are also collaborators on the major project, the Navy Prototype Optical
Interferometer, on nearby Anderson Mesa. NOFS is heavily involved with the
science of star catalogs and astrometry, or the positions and distances of
stars and celestial objects.
There are five industrial parks in the
city, situated near I-40 and I-17. Major manufacturers in Flagstaff include
W.L. Gore & Associates, widely known as the maker of Gore-Tex; Nestlé
Purina PetCare, manufacturer of pet food; SCA Tissue, a major tissue paper
producer; and Joy Cone, manufacturer of ice cream cones. Walgreens also
operates a distribution center in the city.
With proximity to Grand Canyon National
Park, the city also has a thriving travel and tourism industry, with numerous
hotel and restaurant chains. The downtown area is home to two historic hotels,
the Weatherford Hotel and the Hotel Monte Vista. The first hotel of the Ramada
Inn chain opened in 1954 at the intersection of U.S. Route 66, 89 and 89A
adjacent to what was then Arizona State College
