FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Elk County, Pennsylvania

Hanley Tower Site

Elk County, PA steel Aermotor fire tower built 1926 for the state forestry department; removed around 1990 and found gone, with woods on the site, in 2004.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Abandoned and removed; a 2004 station recovery found the location a dense wooded area

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 Aermotor tower; 80-ft steel fire tower topped by a 7 x 7 x 9 ft steel cab with 4-ft glass windows on all sidesThe design: Aermotor
Built of
Steel
Built
1926
Height
80 ft (24.4 m)
Elevation
1,974 ft (602 m)
Agency
Allegheny National Forest per Forest Lookouts; the 1926 USGS description names the Pennsylvania State Department of Forests and Waters
Land
Federal land
Location
Elk County, Pennsylvania
Coordinates
41.54145, −78.87337
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-pa-hanley

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 3.6 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. 1926 BuiltSteel Aermotor tower built 1926 per FFLOS; the NGS text quoted on Forest Lookouts says the USGS described it in 1926Sources: firetower.org, easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  2. No record between 1926 and 1990
  3. 1990 RemovedFFLOS says removed circa 1990, so the year is approximateSource: firetower.org
  4. 2004 Condition assessmentStation recovery note (2004) found the tower abandoned and removed and the location woodedSource: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  5. 2008 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterDate registered per FFLOS detail page: September 16, 2008Source: FFLOS register entry
  6. 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.

The Hanley tower stood in Elk County, Pennsylvania, on land belonging to the Hanley Oil Company.1,2 The Former Fire Lookout Sites register describes it as a steel Aermotor tower built in 1926.1 A survey description, quoted on the Forest Lookouts page, calls it an 80-foot steel fire tower of the Pennsylvania State Department of Forests and Waters.2 It places the tower about 600 feet south of the Highland–Sackett public road, 1.7 miles southwest of the village of Highland.2 The steel cabin on top measured about 7 by 7 by 9 feet and had 4-foot glass windows on every side.2

The register says the tower was removed around 1990.1 A 2004 station recovery note, also quoted on the Forest Lookouts page, says the tower had been abandoned and removed, and that the spot had become dense woods.2 Neither source gives an exact removal date.1,2

The Forest Lookouts page lists the Allegheny National Forest as the agency.2 We found no source that describes what, if anything, remains at the site today or whether visitors can reach it.

  1. Hanley Tower Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/pa/hanley-tower-site/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  2. Hanley, Forest Lookouts, https://easternuslookouts.weebly.com/hanley.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩

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: 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, 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.