FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Warren County, Pennsylvania

Wheeler Fire Tower

A 1922-23 Blaw-Knox lookout in the Allegheny National Forest's Hearts Content area that reported a 1923 wildfire; its access today is unverified.

Visit & stay

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

Access

Access unknown

We do not know the access rules. Check with the land manager before you go.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Unknown
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a towerBlaw-Knox tower with 7x7 ft metal cab and sloping legs below the last four sectionsThe design: Blaw-Knox
Built of
SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1923
Height
90 ft (27.4 m)
Elevation
1,922 ft (586 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Warren County, Pennsylvania
Coordinates
41.69100, −79.25700
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-pa-wheeler

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 3.2 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. 1921 EventCooperative tower plans announced; the first plans called for a wooden towerSource: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1922 EventConstruction announced for September 1922; concrete base reported finished in OctoberSource: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1923 BuiltRegister gives 1923 as the year builtSource: nhlr.org
  4. 1923 StaffedWheeler lookout reported the Farnsworth Fire on May 20, 1923Source: fs.usda.gov
  5. 1924 StaffedAndrew Marfink of Cherry Grove announced as the Wheeler lookout (March 22, 1924 item)Source: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  6. No record between 1924 and 2009
  7. 2009 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered April 20, 2009; nominator unknownSource: nhlr.org
  8. 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 8 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

The Wheeler Fire Tower stands in the Hearts Content Recreation Area of the Allegheny National Forest, in Warren County, Pennsylvania.1 Its story starts a little before the forest was formed. In 1921 foresters began planning a lookout on land owned by the Wheeler & Dusenbury firm, to be erected and staffed under a joint arrangement with the state forestry department.2 The first plans called for a wooden tower, but by the autumn of 1922 the papers were reporting a finished concrete base and steel on the way.2

Newspapers gave the planned height as 80 feet, called it the tallest in the state, and said a ranger would staff a hut at the summit through the fire season.2 The register gives the year built as 1923 and calls its Blaw-Knox design unusual, with a 7-by-7-foot metal cab and legs that slope until the final four sections, which are vertical.1 Newspapers had announced construction for September 1922, so the register's 1923 date is later than that start.2 A May 1923 fire report suggests the tower was already in service by then.3

The tower was soon in use. A Forest Service history says the Farnsworth Fire, put at more than 1,000 acres, began on May 20, 1923 and was called in by the Wheeler lookout.3 In March 1924 a Cherry Grove man, Andrew Marfink, was named as the future lookout.2 I found no staffing records after that.

The register describes the tower in the present tense and records no later fire, move or removal.1 The company that owned the land gave 20 acres of virgin forest to the Forest Service; that stand is now the Hearts Content Scenic Area, a natural landmark.3

I could not find a source saying whether the cab is open to visitors or safe to climb. Check current Forest Service guidance before visiting, and do not assume the cab can be climbed.

  1. Wheeler Fire Tower, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/pa/wheeler-fire-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Wheeler - Forest Lookouts (1921-1924 newspaper transcriptions), Forest Lookouts, https://easternuslookouts.weebly.com/wheeler.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. This Month in History on the Allegheny, USDA Forest Service, https://www.fs.usda.gov/r09/allegheny/recreation/discover-history/month-history-allegheny (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Wheeler Fire Tower
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Wheeler Tower
Wheeler TowerPhoto: Shawn Lesitsky -- PA Fire Towers StoryMap (Esri ArcGIS StoryMaps) · source

Photos keep their own rights and are shown with credit. Is one of these yours? You can ask for a different credit or for removal.

Sources

  1. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, what it is built of, status, register numbers, agency, ownership, dates, photos, links National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved (American Resources, Inc.); facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  2. Fire Towers of Pennsylvania (ArcGIS StoryMap, Shawn Lesitsky) Gave us: type, height, photos, links Pennsylvania fire towers StoryMap (ArcGIS) · No licence stated; facts only (county, agency, built year, height, builder). · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  3. 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
  4. OpenStreetMap -- fire lookout structures Gave us: links © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0. (c) OpenStreetMap contributors. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  5. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, 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.