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Fire lookout · Tioga County, Pennsylvania

Baldwin Run Tower Site

Tioga County steel lookout in Tioga State Forest: wooden USGS tower 1899, 47-ft steel tower 1921, removed about 1964 per register; no current site description found.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Removed about 1964 according to the FFLOS register. No source describes what remains at the site today.

Visit & stay

Gone: site only. The lookout no longer stands, so there is nothing to climb or rent.

Access

Access unknown

We do not know the access rules. Check with the land manager before you go.

Road to the top?
Unknown

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a towersteel observation towerThe design: Aermotor
Built of
SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1899
Height
47 ft (14.3 m)
Elevation
Unknown
Agency
Tioga State Forest
Land
State land
Location
Tioga County, Pennsylvania
Coordinates
41.82900, −77.39080
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-pa-baldwin-run

View from the cab

What the lookout saw from its cab: every ridge out to about 93 miles, the named peaks in sight, and other fire lookouts within view, worked out from terrain data in your browser.

This lookout is gone. The view is reconstructed from its recorded site and its recorded height.

Downloads about 3.9 MB of terrain data the first time.

Or see what it could see on the map: the ground in its line of sight.

History

Then and now

  1. 1899 BuiltU.S. Geological Survey erected a wooden tower on the site.Source: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  2. No record between 1899 and 1919
  3. 1919 EventPlanned repairs to the wooden tower until larger appropriation allowed a steel tower (Wellsboro Agitator, as quoted on the lookout page).Source: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1921 BuiltRegister says the steel Aermotor tower was built in 1921 and replaced a USGS tower.Sources: firetower.org, easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1921 Replaced by a new structureForestry department ordered a 47-foot steel tower in August 1921 to replace the wooden tower it called unsafe. Erected by October 1921.Source: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  6. 1921 First staffedFire warden Frank Davis, Jr. spent the fire season at the tower; tower was connected by telephone.Source: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  7. 1922 FireFire on the Baldwin Run mountains (October 5, 1922) was spotted by the tower watcher; volunteers, including high school students, brought it under control within hours.Source: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  8. 1933 EventCoast and Geodetic Survey description of a survey mark at the tower, on state land. Whether the mark survives is not known.Source: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  9. 1935 AlteredRoads and trails cleared; fireplaces and picnic tables put in at the tower site for public use.Source: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  10. 1939 EventWellsboro Agitator item gives the Baldwin tower as 50 feet, against 47 feet in the 1921 order.Source: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  11. 1949 StaffedDepartment list names Glen Fuller as towerman on Baldwin Tower.Source: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  12. No record between 1949 and 1964
  13. 1964 RemovedRegister says the tower was removed about 1964.Source: firetower.org
  14. No record between 1964 and 2008
  15. 2008 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered September 16, 2008, nominated by Henry Isenberg.Source: firetower.org
  16. TodayGoneThe lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left.

Old maps of this spot

USGS topographic maps from the years a lookout stood may show it, often as a small symbol labelled “Lookout”. See the old topo maps around it on the Firefinder map, or find every scanned sheet of this spot on USGS TopoView (click the spot there to list them, with dates and downloads).

Story

Researched 10 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Baldwin Run sits in Tioga County, inside Tioga State Forest.1 The site had a wooden tower from 1899, when the U.S. Geological Survey erected it, and survey engineers used that tower in their work on the region.1

In 1919 a newspaper item said the wooden tower would be repaired until a larger appropriation allowed a steel one.1 In 1921 the forestry department called the wooden tower unsafe and ordered a new 47-foot steel observation tower in its place.1 By October that tower had been erected.1 The register describes it as a steel Aermotor tower built in 1921 that replaced a USGS tower.2 A 1939 newspaper item gives the height as 50 feet, so the sources disagree on the height.3

A fire warden, Frank Davis, Jr., spent the fire season at the tower in 1921, and the tower had a telephone connection.1 In October 1922 a fire on the Baldwin Run mountains was spotted by the tower's watcher. Volunteers, including high school students, had the blaze contained within hours of arriving.1 A 1949 list named Glen Fuller as the towerman on Baldwin Tower.1

In 1935 the tract around the tower was improved, and fireplaces and picnic tables were put in at the site for public use.1 The register says the tower was removed about 1964.2

No source describes what remains at the site today. A 1933 federal survey description, copied on the lookout page, puts a survey mark on state land at the tower.1 No source we found says whether the site is open to visitors now.

  1. Baldwin Run - Forest Lookouts, Eastern US Lookouts, https://easternuslookouts.weebly.com/baldwin-run.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  2. Baldwin Run Tower Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/pa/baldwin-run-tower-site/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  3. Lee - Forest Lookouts, Eastern US Lookouts, https://easternuslookouts.weebly.com/lee.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩

Sources

  1. Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (FFLOS) Gave us: name, county, what it is built of, status, register numbers, dates, links Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved (American Resources, Inc.); facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  2. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- eastern US (easternuslookouts.weebly.com) Gave us: location, type, height, agency, ownership, links easternuslookouts.weebly.com · No licence stated; facts only (county, coordinates where the page's own map widget gives them, status, height, design hints, register links). The site's own historical quotes, newspaper citations and narrative are not reproduced. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  3. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, status, agency, staffing, dates, links, fact-check Firefinder research (sources cited in the story footnotes) · Our own research notes; each fact cites its source in the lookout's story

More about this lookout elsewhere

Firefinder takes facts (places, dates, numbers) from these sources and writes its own words. See all sources and licences.