{"nrhp_refnum":"10000728","name":"Pillsbury Mountain Forest Fire Observation Station","other_names":["Pillsbury Mountain Fire Tower"],"category":"structure","location":{"address":"Pillsbury Mountain","address_restricted":false,"city":"Arietta","county":"Hamilton County","state":"NY","lat":43.585924989000034,"lon":-74.49818705399997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2010-09-09","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Engineering","Entertainment/Recreation","Conservation","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A forest fire observation station on the 3,597-foot summit of Pillsbury Mountain in Arietta, Hamilton County, New York, in the Adirondack Forest Preserve. It includes a steel fire tower erected in 1924, an observer's cabin and shed built in 1950, and a 1.6-mile foot trail.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the station is significant under Criteria A and C for its association with the New York State Forest Preserve and as an intact example of an early twentieth century fire observation station. It is also described as the sole survivor of a handful of stations that began under private ownership and were later turned over to the state.","narrative":"Atop 3,597-foot Pillsbury Mountain in Arietta, a steel fire tower, an observer's cabin, a shed and a 1.6-mile foot trail make up a former forest fire lookout in the Adirondack Forest Preserve. The Champlain Realty Company, a major private landowner, set up a detection station on the summit in 1918. In 1924 it bought a 60-foot tower made by the AerMotor Company, and the state Conservation Department erected it and took over operations. The cabin and shed date from 1950, when a state construction fund upgraded the fire detection system. In 1955 the tower served as a radio relay link during a twelve-day fire on Long Pond Mountain. The station was decommissioned in 1983, and a solar-powered radio repeater has operated on the tower since 1984. The tower is in relatively good condition, while the cabin exterior needs restoration. The station is notable as the only survivor among several privately established stations later transferred to the state.","period_of_significance":"1924 - 1960","architect_builder":"AerMotor Company (manufacturer)","architectural_style":"No Style: Utilitarian (fire tower)","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Decommissioned as a fire tower in 1983; the tower now supports a solar-powered two-way radio repeater for the state Forest Ranger network. The tower is in relatively good shape, the cabin exterior is in rough shape and boarded up, and the shed is intact.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:48.420246-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/10000728.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/10000728/0b2fdddd5b-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/10000728/0b2fdddd5b-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Catskill549","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pillsbury_Mountain_fire_tower,_Hamilton_County_NY.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Catskill549</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:Pillsbury_Mountain_fire_tower,_Hamilton_County_NY.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75313106","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pillsbury_Mountain_Forest_Fire_Observation_Station","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7194226"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/hamilton-county/pillsbury-mountain-forest-fire-observation-station-10000728/"}