Tourist Home and The Basque Shepherds
A boarding house for shepherds, a handball court, and the transformation of Flagstaff's Southside.
🏠Book Your TourThe History
The Tourist Home was built in 1926, the same year Route 66 was commissioned. It served as a boarding house primarily for Basque sheepherders who worked the ranches and ranges of northern Arizona.
The Basque people came to the American West from the Pyrenees Mountains between Spain and France. The Tourist Home included a handball court, one of the few remaining in the American Southwest.
The Route 66 Story
The Tourist Home represents the Southside's transformation. By 1926, the red light district was fading, and a diverse working-class community was taking shape. Basque shepherds, Mexican railroad workers, African American travelers, all finding a place on the margins of a growing town.
The rest of this story? You will hear it on the tour.
This Is Stop 14 of 16
on the Route 66 Walking Tour of Flagstaff.