{"nrhp_refnum":"01001035","name":"Blue Mountain Fire Observation Station","other_names":[],"category":"structure","location":{"address":"Blue Mountain","address_restricted":false,"city":"Indian Lake","county":"Hamilton County","state":"NY","lat":43.86741907800007,"lon":-74.43024212199998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2001-09-23","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Engineering","Entertainment/Recreation","Conservation","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A fire observation station on the 3,759-foot summit of Blue Mountain in the town of Indian Lake, Hamilton County, New York, in the Adirondack Forest Preserve. It centers on a 35-foot steel lookout tower erected in 1917 and includes a historic foot trail, a stone benchmark and the remains of a 1949 observer's cabin.","why_significant":"The station is significant under criteria A and C for its association with the New York State Forest Preserve and as a representative early twentieth century fire observation tower with the site of an associated observer's cabin. The summit also has earlier history as a survey station used by Verplanck Colvin in the 1870s and as a hiking destination.","narrative":"Blue Mountain's 3,759-foot summit in Indian Lake, Hamilton County, holds a fire observation station built for New York's Forest Preserve. Its main feature is a 35-foot steel tower, prefabricated by the Aermotor Corporation and erected in 1917 as one of the heavier tower types with integral steel stairs. Also counted as historic are a nineteenth-century foot trail of about four miles, a stone benchmark from the Colvin survey, and the remains of an observer's cabin from 1949. A 1975 cabin and the remains of a 1960s radar station are not counted as historic. The steel tower is the third on the summit, following a survey signal tower of the 1870s and a rustic tower of 1907. The state used the site for fire observation until abandoning it in 1990. Hikers and local groups later organized repairs, including new stair treads matching the originals. The station is valued as a representative early twentieth century fire tower and for its link to the Forest Preserve.","period_of_significance":"1890s-1950","architect_builder":"Aermotor Corporation (tower manufacturer)","architectural_style":"No style/utilitarian (fire tower)","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Listed as not in use. The tower is intact and has recently been repaired, the hiking trail is in active recreational use, and the 1975 observer's cabin is boarded up and unoccupied but in fair condition.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:50.716007-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/01001035.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/01001035/b764cf605a-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/01001035/b764cf605a-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Mwanner","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Blue_Mountain_Fire_Observation_Tower.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Mwanner</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Blue_Mountain_Fire_Observation_Tower.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75313100","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Mountain_Fire_Observation_Station","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4929513"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/hamilton-county/blue-mountain-fire-observation-station-01001035/"}