Chapin Hill, a 1,427-foot mountain southwest of Monticello in New York, became an important part of the region’s forest-fire detection system when a 60-foot Aermotor LS40 steel fire lookout tower was built on its summit in 1924 with Sullivan County funding. The tower gave observers a broader view of the surrounding landscape and made the mountain a practical public safety site as well as a natural landmark. In 1941, a fire destroyed the observer’s cabin and damaged the tower’s lower landings and stairs, but the lookout continued in use until the end of the 1970 fire season, when aerial detection made such towers obsolete. The tower was later removed.