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Fire lookout · McKean County, Pennsylvania

McDade Tower Site

McKean County, PA 60-ft steel Blaw-Knox tower on the McDade farm near Kane, built 1923, burned cabin 1944, removed before 1994; no source describes the site now.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Removed before 1994 per FFLOS; a November 1944 fire destroyed the cabin and equipment and a rebuild was reported as planned; no source describes the site now

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 Blaw-Knox tower, 60 ft (18.3 m), set on a concrete foundationThe design: Blaw-Knox
Built of
SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1923
Height
60 ft (18.3 m)
Elevation
Unknown
Agency
State Forestry Department (Pennsylvania), per 1923 items
Land
Unknown
Location
McKean County, Pennsylvania
Coordinates
41.67720, −78.76330
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-pa-mcdade

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 3.7 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. 1923 BuiltBuilt on the H.C. McDade farm about two miles from Kane; FFLOS gives 1923; foundation work began late September 1923Sources: firetower.org, easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1928 EventYouths wrecked the phone line by sliding horseshoes down the wire while the ranger was away (April 19, 1928 item)Source: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1932 FireObserver at the tower spotted a fire near Altoona, 125 miles away (May 26, 1932 item)Source: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1944 BurnedBlaze of undetermined origin destroyed the cabin and equipment atop the tower (November 2, 1944 item); rebuilding reported as plannedSource: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  5. No record between 1944 and 1994
  6. 1994 RemovedFFLOS: removed before 1994; the year is an upper bound, not a dateSource: firetower.org
  7. 2008 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered September 16, 2008; nominated by Henry IsenbergSource: firetower.org
  8. 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 McDade fire tower was the first fire tower built in McKean County, Pennsylvania.1 It stood on the McDade farm about two miles from Kane.1

A September 1923 McKean Democrat item reported that the steel was understood to come from the state, and that public subscription covered the foundation and erection.1 The item described a 60-foot steel tower set on a concrete foundation.1 The Forest Fire Lookout Association register calls it a steel Blaw-Knox tower built in 1923.2

A September 1923 item said a ranger would be kept in the tower constantly during the fire season, with telephone links to other towers and towns.1 Newspaper items name the men in charge later on: a forest ranger in 1928, Fire Warden LeRoy Horton in 1932, and I.G. Bailey in 1944.1

In 1928 youths who climbed the tower in the ranger's absence slid horseshoes down the telephone wire, wrecking it, the Kane Republican reported.1 In April 1932 the warden on duty spotted a blaze in the Cook Forest area, southwest of Kane.1 In May 1932 an item reported that the observer had spotted a fire near Altoona, 125 miles away.1

In November 1944 a blaze of undetermined origin destroyed the cabin and equipment atop the tower. A local paper reported that work to rebuild would start right away.1 The register says the tower was removed before 1994.2 It lists no coordinates for the site.2

A 1964 U.S. Geological Survey station description places a survey marker centered under the tower, about 500 feet northeast of a barn on the McDade estate.1 No source we read describes the site today, who owns the land now, or whether the public can reach it.2,1

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