MCKEETOWN
New Jersey - Atlantic County
June 17, 1916: "As an aid to conserving the county forests, and through this means the city's water supply, a site for the erection of a high lookout tower on Mays Landing road near McKee City was selected yesterday by State Fire Warden Charles P. Wilber in conjunction with Director J.R. Thompson. The city is to defray the expense of erecting the tower, the second to be built in New Jersey, and the State will pay the watchman who by day and night will sit 70 feet aloft and sweep the horizon with a pair of field glasses. He will be provided with a telephone with which to immediately summon the county fire-wardens and their assistants to the scene of incipient blazes.
This lookout will be maintained all through the year." (The Morning Post)
This lookout will be maintained all through the year." (The Morning Post)
January 9, 1917: "The lumber for the new fire tower which will be built by the city on the Mays Landing road, six miles from Pleasantville will be hauled during this week, and the work upon the construction of the building will be started immediately.
The tower will be built on a skeleton frame, will be sixty feet high and will command a full view of the surrounding country. On the top of the frame work will be an enclosed room for the use of the watchmen, who will be supplied by the State, and this will be heated by stoves, and will be connected by telephone with the headquarters or residents of all the fire wardens of this district, so that they can be called into action by the watchman in the tower.
The watchman will be maintained by the State for about eight months of the year. They will be on duty day and night during the dry season and during the hunting season and it is expected they will be able to save thousands of dollars worth of property and timberland by their vigilance against the spread of fires.
These watch towers are maintained by the Government and the States all thru the West and in many of the Eastern States where there are large tracts of timber, and they have been the means of preventing the spread of fires that would have swept vast tracts of forests.
The cost of the tower will be about $400 to the city and will be a guard against the spread of fires in the wooded tract owned by the municipality in the vicinity of its water sheds near Absecon." (Press of Atlantic City)
January 27, 1917: "A fire tower, sixty feet high, from which can be observed the location of any forest fires in Atlantic County woodland, is being erected on the Pleasantville-Mays Landing road." (Mainland Journal)
June 8, 1917: "The worth of the new fire lookout tower, which the duty recently erected in the vicinity of McKee City, and which is being maintained by the Forestry Department of the State, has already proved its efficiency in a number of instances, according to Dr. J.B. Thompson. He said that the lookout has discovered from his position of vantage a number of incipient fires in the woods, which had been caught and extinguished before the flames had opportunity to spread..
The fire tower is a skeleton frame work with small shed-like structure at the top, in which the lookout spends his time. From this he can see for several miles over the surrounding country and is able to discern a fire and telephone people living in the vicinity, who drop everything and rush to the scene and fight the flames. The tower is sixty-five feet high." (The Morning Post)
1917: "By the erection of a handsome and complete watch tower near its watershed property, Atlantic City has made possible the institution at McKeetown, Atlantic County, of the first permanent Forest Fire Lookout in South Jersey. The tower was not completed in time to permit its use for the spring season, but has since amply proven its value in controlling the summer and fall fires. Because of its location on one of the main shore roads it also has been of great value as a means of arousing intelligent interest in fire prevention in the large number of visitors." (New Jersey Department of Conservation and Development Annual Report - 1917)
1917-18: "The lookout station provided through the cooperation of the Atlantic City, at McKeestown, Atlantic County, has been manned throughout the season and has proven its value in fire control beyond any question." (Annual Report - Department of Conservation and Development, 1917-18)
1919: "The lookout station provided through the cooperation of the City of Atlantic City, at McKeetown, Atlantic County, has been manned throughout the season and has proven its value in the control beyond any question." (Annual Report - Department of Conservation and Development)