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Fire lookout · Bedford County, Pennsylvania

Blue Knob Tower Site

Blue Knob, Bedford County: state steel tower built 1921, relocated 1951, removed 1991. Summit now in Blue Knob State Park; no source describes the site today.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. The register says it was removed in 1991. The summit now lies within Blue Knob State Park.

Visit & stay

Gone: site only. The lookout no longer stands, so there is nothing to climb or rent. You may still be able to visit the site.

Access

Open to the public. Blue Knob State Park land. Wikipedia says a park trail starts on the Tower Road just below the summit. No source describes the old tower site itself.

Road to the top?
Unknown

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a towerSteel Aermotor tower with a glass-enclosed cab (register; 1941 survey)The design: Aermotor
Built of
Steel
Built
1921
Height
60 ft (18.3 m)
Elevation
3,025 ft (922 m)
Agency
Pennsylvania Department of Forestry (1921), later Department of Forests and Waters; Blue Knob State Park since 1945
Land
State land
Location
Bedford County, Pennsylvania
Coordinates
40.29535, −78.57391 sources disagree
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-pa-blue-knob-2

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 3.1 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. 1921 BuiltSteel tower erected in the summer of 1921 (June 1922 Gazette); register gives 1921 as the build yearSources: easternuslookouts.weebly.com, firetower.org
  2. 1921 FireFive fires reported in one batch near the tower in October; the Kane Republican said they appeared to be setSource: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1922 FireA blaze about five miles from the tower could not be seen for some time by the towermanSource: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1928 AlteredLower two flights of steps to be removed when the towerman is off duty, because of damageSource: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1928 Staffed1928 notice refers to the towerman being on dutySource: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  6. 1941 EventNational Geodetic Survey station description: about 75 feet, glass cab, Civil Aeronautics Bureau airway beacon on the roofSource: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  7. 1945 EventNational Park Service transferred the land to Pennsylvania; it became Blue Knob State ParkSource: pa.gov
  8. 1951 MovedRegister entrySource: firetower.org
  9. No record between 1951 and 1991
  10. 1991 RemovedRegister entrySource: firetower.org
  11. No record between 1991 and 2008
  12. 2008 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterDate registered per FFLOS detail page: September 16, 2008Source: FFLOS register entry
  13. 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.

Blue Knob got a state fire tower in 1921.1 An August 1921 notice named Blue Knob, Bedford County, as one of the first 18 towers to be put up.1 A June 1922 Bedford Gazette piece said fifty 60-foot steel towers had been erected in the latter part of the summer of 1921.1 An October 1922 Altoona Mirror item described the Blue Knob tower as sixty feet tall.1 The register gives 1921 as the build year and calls it a steel Aermotor tower.2

The 1922 Gazette also said the tower stood on the highest point in the state, at 3,165 feet. The register puts the summit at 3,025 feet (922 m), so the two figures disagree.1,2

Fires came early. In October 1921 five fires were reported in one batch near the tower, and the Kane Republican said there was evidence they had been set on purpose.1 In October 1922 a blaze about five miles away could not be seen for some time by the towerman, because of the way the mountains lay.1

A towerman was on duty at the tower.1 In 1928 the department decided to remove the lower two flights of steps whenever the towerman was off duty, because of damage that included broken glass and locks.1

The same Mirror item said the tower was open to the public every day until December 1.1 An August 1924 Altoona Tribune item said the state forestry department, by then called the Department of Forests and Waters, had erected the tower.1

A National Geodetic Survey station description from 1941 calls it a four-legged steel structure about 75 feet high, with a glass cab and a Civil Aeronautics Bureau airway beacon on the roof.1 The register says the tower was relocated in 1951 and removed in 1991.2

The National Park Service transferred the land to Pennsylvania on September 26, 1945, and it became Blue Knob State Park.3 Today a park trail starts on the Tower Road just below the summit, and the same road passes a gated road that leads to Herman Point, where transmitter towers stand on its own summit.4 No source I found describes what, if anything, remains of the 1921 tower on the summit.

  1. Blue Knob, Eastern US Lookouts, https://easternuslookouts.weebly.com/blue-knob.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  2. Blue Knob Tower Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/pa/blue-knob-tower-site/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  3. History of Blue Knob State Park, Pennsylvania DCNR, https://www.pa.gov/agencies/dcnr/recreation/where-to-go/state-parks/find-a-park/blue-knob-state-park/history (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  4. Blue Knob State Park, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Knob_State_Park (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩

Where sources disagree

We show disagreements between sources instead of quietly picking one. If you know which is right, please tell us.

  • Sources disagree on the location by 1.3 km (0.8 mi).

    • FFLOS: 40.29535, −78.57391
    • FOREST LOOKOUTS -- eastern US (easternuslookouts.weebly.com): 40.28860, −78.56140

    The map uses the position from FFLOS.

Sources

  1. Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (FFLOS) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, type, 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: 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, access, 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.