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Fire lookout · Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania

Tyrone Tower Site

Steel Aermotor tower near Tyrone, Huntingdon County: built 1933, opened 1951, removed 1972 or 1977 (sources disagree); no source describes the site today.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Removed. The register gives 1972 and the Forest Lookouts page gives 1977. No source describes what remains.

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
1933
Height
60 ft (18.3 m)
Elevation
Unknown
Agency
Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Resources (owned the tower cabin in 1971)
Land
Unknown
Location
Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania
Coordinates
40.68460, −78.21230
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-pa-tyrone

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 3.4 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. 1933 BuiltThe register gives 1933 as the build year.Source: firetower.org
  2. 1933 EventA July 1933 issue of The Forest Worker reported a plan to move a 60-foot Bald Knob tower to a site near Tyrone and raise it to 80 feet. No source read confirms the move or the height.Source: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  3. No record between 1933 and 1951
  4. 1951 EventOpened October 1, 1951, after radio and telephone equipment was installed the week before (Huntingdon Daily News).Source: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1953 StaffedIn May 1953 John Cannistraci was in charge of the Bald Eagle fire tower and reported most fires to local crews (Tyrone Daily Herald).Source: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  6. 1955 EventTwo teenage boys admitted vandalizing the Tyrone tower cabin, per a November 16, 1955 report.Source: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  7. 1956 EventVandals caused several hundred dollars of damage to the fire tower and cabin on Bald Eagle mountain, north of Tyrone (October 26, 1956 report). The sources do not say outright that this is the same lookout.Source: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  8. No record between 1956 and 1971
  9. 1971 StaffedThe log cabin at the tower base was used by the towerman; it was burglarized in April 1971.Source: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  10. 1972 RemovedThe register gives 1972; the Forest Lookouts page gives 1977.Source: firetower.org
  11. No record between 1972 and 2008
  12. 2008 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered September 16, 2008; nominated by Henry Isenberg.Source: firetower.org
  13. 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 register gives 1933 as the build year for the Tyrone tower, and calls it a steel Aermotor tower.1 A July 1933 issue of The Forest Worker reported a plan to relocate a 60-foot tower from Bald Knob, in Huntingdon County, to land near Tyrone and build it up to 80 feet.2 No source I read confirms that the move was carried out.1,2

The tower opened on October 1, 1951.2 The Huntingdon Daily News reported that radio and telephone equipment had been installed the week before, and that the tower, on the boundary between Huntingdon and Blair counties, opened that morning.2

In May 1953 the Tyrone Daily Herald named John Cannistraci as the person running the Bald Eagle fire tower, and said he passed most of the fires on to local crews.2 Newspapers use both names for this lookout.2 A 1956 report places a fire tower and cabin on Bald Eagle mountain, north of Tyrone.2 The sources do not say outright that it is the same lookout, but this history treats it as one.2

In late 1955 two teenage boys admitted vandalizing the Tyrone tower cabin.2 In 1956 vandals inflicted several hundred dollars' worth of damage on the Bald Eagle mountain fire tower and its cabin.2

In April 1971 someone broke into the log cabin at the foot of the tower.2 The state's Department of Environmental Resources owned the cabin, which the towerman used.2

The register gives 1972 as the removal year, while the lookout history site gives 1977; the two sources disagree.1,2

No source I read describes what remains at the site today, or whether the public can reach it.1,2

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

Sources

  1. Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (FFLOS) Gave us: name, county, 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: location, height, agency, 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, 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

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