The Flagstaff City Council voted last Tuesday to rename Columbus Avenue.
The change extends Switzer Canyon Drive an additional three blocks from the San Francisco Street intersection to Humphreys Street.
The proposal came from members of the Native American Club at Flagstaff High School and Kinsey Elementary School. The students cited concerns about 15th-century explorer Christopher Columbus’ violence and disruption of Indigenous communities.
City officials say the change will also improve continuity for drivers and emergency responders.
Switzer Canyon Drive is named for William Howard “Billy” Switzer, whose family established a homestead in the canyon in the late 1880s. The former city council member lived most of his life in Flagstaff and ran a saddle and harness business before opening Switzer’s Hardware. He died in 1967.
The Switzer Canyon Drive extension will be combined with an honorary designation of “Hózhó Way” — a Navajo word meaning finding beauty and balance in life.
Staff will next notify affected residents and update maps, signs and official documents before decommissioning the old street name. Documents provided to the council estimate the change will cost about $11,350 between materials, labor and new signage.
