Harlem has a 47-foot cast-iron tower rising above its treetops, a five-ton bell hanging inside it, and a story that began decades before New York had modern fire alarms.
Most days, the Mount Morris Fire Watchtower sits behind a protective fence at the summit of Marcus Garvey Park, its dark latticework visible from the paths below but its spiral staircase and open-air lookout kept out of reach.
For one afternoon this October, that all changes!
As part of Open House New York Weekend, the 1857 tower will open for a rare public climb on Sunday, October 18, giving New Yorkers a chance to step inside the landmarked structure, pass the enormous historic bell, and take in panoramic views above the Harlem canopy.
No ticket is required, and access is free. And we have all the details!
The last survivor of NYC’s original fire-warning system
Long before pull boxes, 911 dispatchers, and smoke alarms, New York relied on watchmen with a very straightforward job: climb as high as possible, look for smoke, and ring a bell when they spotted trouble.
In the mid-1800s, the city installed 11 cast-iron fire watchtowers across its rapidly growing neighborhoods. The Mount Morris tower, designed by Julius Kroehl and completed in 1857, was built high on Harlem’s rocky hill, where a watchman could scan the mostly wood-frame buildings below for signs of a fire.
The system was not subtle. A lookout rang the bell in a coded number of peals to tell fire brigades which district needed help. At a time when flames could move quickly through wooden homes and narrow streets, that elevated lookout could be the difference between a single building burning and an entire block going up with it.
Today, this is the only survivor of that cast-iron network, and NYC Parks calls the 47-foot tower unique in the United States. So much so, that it became a city landmark in 1967 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.
The bell weighs as much as a small elephant
The tower’s showstopper is a bronze bell weighing around 5,000 pounds, suspended from the crossed trusses on the second level.
It is not the original bell, which was damaged decades ago, but it is still a period bell cast in 1865 by E.A. & G.R. Meneely of West Troy, New York. During the tower’s working life, watchmen operated it from the observation deck above, translating smoke in the distance into bell signals that local fire companies could understand.
When the city’s technology advanced and the towers became obsolete in the 1870s, the other structures were eventually dismantled.
For decades afterward, its bell served an entirely different public purpose, marking the hour for nearby residents. It rang at noon and 9 pm on weekdays, then at 9 am and 9 pm on Sundays, until it finally fell silent around 1909.
Harlem saved the tower more than once
The fact that this watchtower still exists is almost as remarkable as the tower itself.
Neighbors first rallied to preserve it in the 1870s, when the city began dismantling its obsolete fire-watch network. A century later, residents fought again when Robert Moses-era plans threatened to flatten the hilltop site into a paved plaza. Then, by the 1990s, the tower was deteriorating so badly that it needed a steel cradle to stop its 160-year-old cast-iron frame from collapsing.
The major restoration effort took years. In 2015, the structure was carefully dismantled, with every component labeled and shipped out for repair, conservation, or exact replication in new cast iron. The tower returned to its place above the park in 2019 after a $7.9 million restoration, complete with safer internal stairs and a renewed ability to host select public tours.
The view from above makes the preservation story feel even more satisfying. Instead of looking down at 19th-century wood houses and fire brigades, climbers now get a tree-level look across Harlem, with the towers of Midtown flickering beyond the park’s rocky rise.
How to climb it during OHNY Weekend
The Mount Morris Fire Watchtower will be open on Sunday, October 18, from 1 pm to 2:30 pm, as part of Open House New York Weekend.
Where: Marcus Garvey Park, near Madison Avenue and East 122nd Street, Harlem
When: Sunday, October 18, 2026, 1 pm – 2:30 pm
Cost: Free