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Fire lookout · Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania

Saint Boniface Tower Site

Westmoreland County steel Aermotor tower; sources differ on its build and move dates (1935, 1936, 1924/1938); removed in 1974; no source describes the site today.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Removed in 1974, according to the register; no source describes 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 Aermotor towerThe design: Aermotor
Built of
Steel
Built
1935
Height
80 ft (24.4 m)
Elevation
2,187 ft (667 m)
Agency
Unknown
Land
Unknown
Location
Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania
Coordinates
40.20479, −79.38726
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-pa-saint-boniface

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 3.3 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. 1935 BuiltRegister date for the steel Aermotor tower. The 1936 newspaper item and the Kecksburg register entry give other dates.Source: firetower.org
  2. 1936 EventMarch 1936 newspaper item: work started on a new tower at Ridge Chapel, a mile east of Kecksburg; demolition of the Kecksburg tower to begin soon; new tower planned at 80 feet.Source: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1936 StaffedRichard Johnson of Kingston named as the towerman in the 1936 item.Source: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1938 MovedKecksburg register entry: that steel Aermotor tower was moved in 1938 and renamed St. Boniface. The same entry gives a 1924 build year.Source: firetower.org
  5. No record between 1938 and 1974
  6. 1974 RemovedRegister says the tower was removed in 1974.Source: firetower.org
  7. No record between 1974 and 2008
  8. 2008 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterDate registered September 16, 2008 (FFLOS US 493, PA 322).Source: firetower.org
  9. 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.

Saint Boniface, in Westmoreland County, was a steel Aermotor fire tower. The sources do not agree on when it went up or how it came to the site.1,2,3 The register gives 1935 as its build year and says it was moved from Kecksburg.1 The Kecksburg tower's register entry dates that tower to 1924 and says it was relocated in 1938 and took the name St. Boniface.3

A March 1936 Connellsville Daily Courier item, quoted on a lookout history site, reported that work had started on a new tower at Ridge Chapel on Chestnut Ridge, a mile east of Kecksburg, and that demolition of the Kecksburg tower was due to begin soon.2 The item planned the new tower at 80 feet and named Richard Johnson of Kingston as the towerman.2 The 1935 register date and the 1936 report do not line up, and this story does not settle the date.1,2

The register says the tower was removed in 1974.1

The name also appears in a 2022 book about the Saint Boniface Woodlands, a property on Chestnut Ridge owned by Saint Vincent Archabbey.4 No source we read says whether the tower stood on that land, what, if anything, remains there today, or whether visitors are welcome.

  1. Saint Boniface Tower Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/pa/saint-boniface-tower-site/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  2. Saint Boniface - Forest Lookouts, Eastern US Lookouts, https://easternuslookouts.weebly.com/saint-boniface.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  3. Kecksburg Tower Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/pa/kecksburg-tower-site/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  4. A History of "The Ridge": The Saint Boniface Woodlands Property on Chestnut Ridge Owned by Saint Vincent Archabbey, Mid-Atlantic Karst Conservancy library catalogue, https://www.karst.org/index.php/makc-document/a-history-of-the-ridge-the-saint-boniface-woodlands-property-on-chestnut-ridge-owned-by-saint-vincent-archabbey/ (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: 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, status, 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.