The Flagstaff Community Hotel Company began in 1926, when a group of Flagstaff citizens, working with the Chamber of Commerce, hired the Hockenbury System, of Harrisburg, PA. to do a survey regarding the community's support for a new hotel in Flagstaff, Arizona. The Flagstaff Community Hotel Company was formed under the leadership of Arizona Lumber and Timber Company Vice-president, I.B. Koch, and publisher and editor of the Coconino Sun (Flagstaff's weekly newspaper), Fred S. Breen. To raise the necessary $200,000, the company sold stock to the local community. In 1927, the initial hotel project of the Flagstaff Community Hotel Company opened and was named the Monte Vista Hotel (aka: Hotel Monte Vista), which still stands at the corner of San Francisco and Aspen Streets.
From the guide to the Flagstaff Community Hotel Company, 1936-1964, (Arizona Historical Society/Flagstaff Archives)