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Fire lookout · Warren County, Pennsylvania

Sheffield Tower Site

Warren County steel Aermotor tower at Sheffield, built 1925. A 1971 newspaper reported it sold for dismantling; the register gives removal in 1994. Now a former site.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Register says removed in 1994. A June 1971 newspaper reported the tower sold and due for dismantling that summer.

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
1925
Height
Unknown
Elevation
2,032 ft (619 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service (from about 1954)
Land
Unknown
Location
Warren County, Pennsylvania
Coordinates
41.69451, −78.99282
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-pa-sheffield

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 a typical height for a lookout like it.

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. 1925 BuiltTwo steel towers at Torpedo and Sheffield being erected in August 1925 (notice of August 21, 1925); register gives 1925 as the build yearSources: firetower.org, easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1930 Event1971 article dates the tower's 41 years of service from 1930Source: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  3. No record between 1930 and 1954
  4. 1954 EventTransferred to the U.S. Forest Service around 1954 in exchange for Coal Knob TowerSource: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1960 EventApril 1960: gas line supplying the tower with bottled gas shot in half with a rifle bullet (reported in an August 4, 1960 newspaper report)Source: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  6. 1971 EventJune 1971 (article of June 4, 1971): reported sold, to be dismantled that summer. The article gives the cab as 93 ft in the airSource: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  7. No record between 1971 and 1994
  8. 1994 RemovedRegister: removed in 1994Source: firetower.org
  9. 2008 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered September 16, 2008, nominated by Henry IsenbergSource: firetower.org
  10. 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.

Warren County was allotted two new fire towers in 1925, one at Torpedo and one at Sheffield, and by August crews were laying the cement foundations.1 The register describes the Sheffield tower as an Aermotor steel tower erected in 1925 and taken down in 1994.2

A 1971 newspaper dated the tower's 41 years of service from 1930.1 It began as a state tower under the Pennsylvania Department of Forests and Waters.1 Around 1954 the U.S. Forest Service took it over in a trade for Coal Knob Tower.1

Hundreds of visitors have climbed its steep stairs, and it was manned during the spring and fall fire seasons. The 1971 article puts the cab 93 feet up.1 An August 1960 newspaper report on the Sheffield District of the Allegheny National Forest said that in April a gas line supplying the tower with bottled gas had been cut in two by a rifle bullet.1

In June 1971 the Warren Times-Mirror and Observer reported that the tower had been sold and would be dismantled that summer.1 The register gives 1994 as the year it was removed, so the two dates do not match.2

No source describes what, if anything, remains at the site now, or whether the public can reach it.

  1. Sheffield, Forest Lookouts (Eastern US), https://easternuslookouts.weebly.com/sheffield.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  2. Sheffield Tower Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/pa/sheffield-tower-site/ (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: 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. OpenStreetMap -- fire lookout structures Gave us: links © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0. (c) OpenStreetMap contributors. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  4. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, 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.