The Aircraft Warning Service Observation Tower in

Agnew, Washington Agnew is an unincorporated community in Clallam County, Washington, United States. It lies on a backroad leading to Port Angeles and just outside Sequim. Agnew is a primarily rural residential area located along the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Ag ...

was built in 1941 as a spotting station for

Aircraft Warning Service The Aircraft Warning Service (AWS) was a civilian service of the United States Army Ground Observer Corps instated during World War II to keep watch for enemy planes entering American airspace. It became inactive on May 29, 1944. Purpose During W ...

volunteers watching for intruding Japanese airplanes during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. The tower's original site was near

Dungeness Dungeness (, ) is a headland on the coast of Kent, England, formed largely of a shingle beach in the form of a cuspate foreland. It shelters a large area of low-lying land, Romney Marsh. Dungeness spans Dungeness Nuclear Power Station, the ham ...

, but in 1992 the tower was moved to its present location.

History

The wood-frame tower was built from donated materials behind the Fred and Jean Cook farmhouse, overlooking the

Strait of Juan de Fuca The Strait of Juan de Fuca (officially named Juan de Fuca Strait in Canada) is a body of water about long that is the Salish Sea's main outlet to the Pacific Ocean. The Canada–United States border, international boundary between Canada and the ...

. Jean Cook, as "chief observer," organized a team of 300 people to maintain a 24-hour watch. The site reported to the

Port Angeles Port Angeles ( ) is a city and county seat of Clallam County, Washington, United States. The population was 19,960 at the 2020 census, it is the most populous city in the county, as well as the most populous city on the Olympic Peninsula. T ...

"filter center," which compiled observer reports for transmission on to the U.S. Army. The AWS program operated from 1941 to October 1943. Most towers were dismantled or neglected after the war. The Cook tower is the only remaining such facility in

Clallam County, Washington Clallam County is a county in the U.S. state of Washington. As of the 2020 census, the population was 77,155, with an estimated population of 77,616 in 2023. The county seat and largest city is Port Angeles; the county as a whole comprises th ...

. Owing to liability concerns, the tower was partially dismantled and moved to the property of Harriet U. Fish, who had served at the Seattle filter center. It was re-erected and repaired. and The wood-frame tower's plan measures about by , with three stories, each a single room accessed by an exterior door from the outside stairway. Windows are provided at each level, with larger windows on the top level, surrounded by a balcony. The lower levels are covered in board-and-batten siding, with wide clapboards on the top level. The roof is a pitched gable structure with deep eaves. The tower was placed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

on April 29, 1993.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places in Washington Military facilities on the National Register of Historic Places in Washington (state) Buildings and structures in Clallam County, Washington Aircraft Warning Service Towers in Washington (state) National Register of Historic Places in Clallam County, Washington