{"nrhp_refnum":"01001039","name":"Arab Mountain Fire Observation Station","other_names":[],"category":"structure","location":{"address":"Arab Mountain","address_restricted":false,"city":"Piercefield","county":"St. Lawrence County","state":"NY","lat":44.213146979000044,"lon":-74.59622183199997,"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 2,539-foot summit of Arab Mountain in Piercefield, St. Lawrence County, New York, in the Adirondack Forest Preserve. It has a 40-foot steel lookout tower from 1918, a c. 1948 observer's cabin, a root cellar, the original cabin foundation and a one-mile foot trail.","why_significant":"The station is significant for its association with the New York State Forest Preserve and its fire observation program. It is also a representative example of an early twentieth-century fire tower with associated structures and sites. The tower is a prefabricated Aermotor LS-40 typical of the heavier steel towers the Conservation Commission erected from 1917 to 1950.","narrative":"Atop the 2,539-foot summit of Arab Mountain in Piercefield, this fire observation station includes a 40-foot steel lookout tower erected in 1918. Prefabricated by the Aermotor Corporation, it has an enclosed glass cab and steel stairs in five flights. Nearby are a c. 1948 rustic observer's cabin, the foundation trace of the earlier cabin, a probable root cellar, a modern privy and a one-mile foot trail from the base. The station was established in 1911 as part of the state's fire observation program, and the present tower replaced an earlier wooden one. Observers such as George Lavasseur, who served from the 1930s to the 1950s, lived and worked on the summit, and the tower closed in 1988. By the early 1990s it was the only one of seven fire towers in St. Lawrence County still standing. Local citizens formed Friends of Mt. Arab in 1996, and restoration with NYSDEC began in 1998. The cabin is abandoned but the tower remains intact.","period_of_significance":"1918-1950","architect_builder":"Aermotor Corporation (tower manufacturer)","architectural_style":"No style/utilitarian (fire tower)","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Tower is intact and being repaired by NYSDEC and Friends of Mt. Arab; the observer's cabin is abandoned and in fair condition; the trail remains in recreational use.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:50.388257-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/01001039.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/01001039/cac8996133-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/01001039/cac8996133-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Jondude11 at en.wikipedia","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mount_Arab.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Jondude11 at en.wikipedia</a>, <a href=\"http://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:Mount_Arab.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75314694","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_Mountain_Fire_Observation_Station","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4783212"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/st-lawrence-county/arab-mountain-fire-observation-station-01001039/"}