It was originally called Dulverton on council plans, but it was officially named Flagstaff in 1986 when it was declared as a suburb.

[3] Sometimes the name Rototuna is used to collectively refer to all of the city north of Wairere Drive and east of the Waikato River, including Flagstaff and its developments of St Petersburg and Magellan Rise.

A flag was raised by the local farmer when a steamer passed to alert the port authorities in the settlement 7 km further south.

Two playgrounds serve the new suburbs in northern Flagstaff at Hare Puke Park and Te Huia Reserve.

[7] Until Hamilton's suburbs extended to Flagstaff in the 1990s, the only roads through the area were Rototuna School Rd, River Rd and Sylvester Rd.

[8] River Road was shown on an 1865 map of the military settlements[9] and extended form Hamilton to Ngāruawāhia by 1879.

[16] Southern Flagstaff is in the Te Awa O Katapaki stream valley, which has a 385 ha (950 acres) catchment.

Glaisdale West lakes and wetland were built in 2015 to attenuate flows from the developed area and keep heavy metal run-off from vehicles out of Otama-ngenge stream.