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Fire lookout · Somerset County, Pennsylvania

Kooser Tower

Also known as Kooser Mountain

Somerset County, PA tower on Laurel Hill, erected 1934 and manned from 1935; sold to the Fish and Boat Commission in 1984, restored and padlocked; climbs only at staff-led events.

Visit & stay

Not rentable. As far as we know, this lookout cannot be booked for overnight stays.

Access

Restricted access

Access is seasonal, gated or needs a permit. Check before you go. Padlocked; climbing only with park staff at scheduled events. The 2021 DCNR tour required registration and climbers had to be 18 or older.

Can you climb it?
No
Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
A short hike to the tower, reached by a narrow path off Fire Tower Road near the Westmoreland-Somerset county line
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a towergalvanized steel superstructureThe design: McClintic-Marshall
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1934
Height
80 ft (24.4 m)
Elevation
Unknown
Agency
Pennsylvania DCNR, Laurel Hill State Park complex
Land
State land
Location
Somerset County, Pennsylvania
Coordinates
40.05360, −79.27850
Registers
Not on a lookout register
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-pa-kooser

View from the cab

What you see from the 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.

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. 1934 BuiltTower erected (Forest Lookouts); a March 1935 notice gives 80 feet and says ECW labor erected itSource: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1935 First staffedTowermen to be posted for the first time that spring; E. T. Beck named as towermanSource: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1936 EventA cabin for the towerman was contemplated at the summit; the sources do not say whether it was builtSource: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1941 FireObserver in the tower spotted a fire near Bakersville, Somerset Township; it got out of control near Normalville, Fayette County, and destroyed a church and two dwellingsSource: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1945 StaffedMartin Krepps named as towerman; the last towerman named in the sourcesSource: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  6. No record between 1945 and 1984
  7. 1984 EventDeeded to the state Fish and Boat Commission, which used it as a mount for communications equipmentSource: archive.triblive.com
  8. No record between 1984 and 2021
  9. 2021 EventDCNR guided tour and short hike to climb the tower, registration required, climbers 18 and olderSource: events.dcnr.pa.gov
  10. TodayStandingIt still stands, as far as our sources know.

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 9 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

The Kooser tower went up in 1934 on Laurel Hill, a mile south of the Bakersville–Mt. Pleasant pike where that road crosses the Westmoreland and Somerset county line.1 A notice from March 1935 said it stood 80 feet high on a spot 2,920 feet up, and that ECW labor had erected it.1 A Tribune-Review article ties it to Civilian Conservation Corps work from the Depression era and gives its height as 82 feet.2 That is two feet more than the 1935 notice, and the sources do not explain whether the ECW labor of 1935 and the Civilian Conservation Corps labor are the same work.1,2

The state planned to staff it for the first time that spring, and a 1935 notice named E. T. Beck as the towerman there.1 Beck was still at the tower in May 1936.1 That same year a notice said WPA sawmill lumber would go into towermen's cabins, and that a cabin was planned at the summit so the towerman could stay on site day and night during fire season.1 The sources do not say whether that cabin was ever built.

In April 1941 the observer in the tower spotted a fire near Bakersville, in Somerset Township. The fire got out of control near Normalville, in Fayette County, and destroyed a church and two dwellings. The observer sent two crews of 20 men each to the scene.1 In April 1945 a posting notice named Martin Krepps as the towerman, the last one the sources name.1

The Fish and Boat Commission was deeded the tower in 1984 and used it as a mount for communications gear.2 When the commission agreed to hand it over to the state park system, DCNR ranger Mike Mumau, who oversees Kooser and Laurel Hill State Parks, looked into saving it.2 The steel frame was judged sound, but the wooden steps and platforms were rotting. A Friends of the Park group wrote a grant application, the state gave the group $4,000, volunteers raised matching money, and park staff gave their labor to restore the tower.2

The article describes the tower as padlocked against vandals. Climbing is allowed only with park staff supervising, at events scheduled through the year.2 A DCNR tour in October 2021 was a short hike to the tower, with registration required and climbers at least 18 years old.3 The sources use two park names for the same place, Kooser State Park and Laurel Hill State Park.2,3 The newest dated item in the sources is that 2021 tour, so check with the park before going, and do not climb the tower on your own.

  1. Kooser Mountain, Forest Lookouts (easternuslookouts.weebly.com), with 1935 to 1945 newspaper clippings, https://easternuslookouts.weebly.com/kooser-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Pennsylvania's fire towers regain relevance as guardians of forests, Evan R. Sanders, Tribune-Review, https://archive.triblive.com/news/pennsylvania/pennsylvanias-fire-towers-regain-relevance-as-guardians-of-forests/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Fire Tower Tour, DCNR Calendar of Events, Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, https://events.dcnr.pa.gov/event/fire_tower_tour_5638 (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Kooser Tower
Kooser TowerPhoto: Shawn Lesitsky -- PA Fire Towers StoryMap (Esri ArcGIS StoryMaps) · source

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Sources

  1. Fire Towers of Pennsylvania (ArcGIS StoryMap, Shawn Lesitsky) Gave us: name, county, type, height, status, agency, ownership, dates, photos, links Pennsylvania fire towers StoryMap (ArcGIS) · No licence stated; facts only (county, agency, built year, height, builder). · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  2. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- eastern US (easternuslookouts.weebly.com) Gave us: location, 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, agency, access, visiting details, 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.