The Cope Truss is a tall square frustum

Frustum

In geometry, a frustum is the portion of a solid that lies between two parallel planes cutting it....

 of four structural cells used for 2 lattice tower

Lattice tower

A lattice tower or truss tower is a freestanding framework tower. They can be used as electricity pylons especially for voltages above 100 kilovolts, as a radio tower or as an observation tower....

s on the Gettysburg Battlefield

Gettysburg Battlefield

The Gettysburg Battlefield is the area of the July 1–3, 1863, military engagements of the Battle of Gettysburg within and around the borough of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Locations of military engagements extend from the 4 acre site of the first shot & at on the west of the borough, to East...

: Culp's Hill

Culp's Hill

Culps Hill is a Battle of Gettysburg landform south of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, with a heavily wooded summit of . The east slope is to Rock Creek , 160 feet lower in elevation, and the west slope is to a saddle with Stevens Knoll with a summit lower than the Culps Hill summit...

 Observation Tower and Confederate Avenue Observation Tower. The 60 & high observation tower

Observation tower

An observation tower is a structure used to view events from a long distance and to create a full 360 degree range of vision. They are usually at least tall and made from stone, iron, and wood. Many modern towers are also used as TV towers, restaurants, or churches...

s have stairways with corner landings along the interior sides to form a square helix route to the "metal observatory". The Oak Ridge

Oak Ridge, Adams County, Pennsylvania

Oak Ridge is the landform of the Gettysburg Battlefield where the Eternal Light Peace Memorial was dedicated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt during the 1938 Gettysburg reunion. 1863 Battle of Gettysburg, Whitworth rifled cannon fired from Oak Hill at Culp's Hill and Cemetery Hill. The ridge...

 Observation Tower 23 ft (7 m) high and without a roof is truncated to the 1st cell.

History

Preceding Gettysburg sightseeing towers included an 1878 wooden observatory

Observation tower

An observation tower is a structure used to view events from a long distance and to create a full 360 degree range of vision. They are usually at least tall and made from stone, iron, and wood. Many modern towers are also used as TV towers, restaurants, or churches...

 on East Cemetery Hill

Cemetery Hill

Cemetery Hill is a Gettysburg Battlefield landform which had 1863 military engagements each day of the July 1–3 Battle of Gettysburg. The northernmost part of the Army of the Potomac defensive "fish-hook" line, the hill is gently sloped and provided a site for American Civil War artillery...

,http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=oC0yAAAAIBAJ&sjid=T-UFAAAAIBAJ&pg=5437,6923315&dq=samuel-weaver+gettysburg&hl=en an 1881 wooden tower on Big Round Top, and the 1893 44th New York

44th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment

The 44th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment was a regiment of the Union Army during the American Civil War which was formed up in mid-1861, and mustered in on August 30, 1861.-Service:The regiment was first mustered by Stephen W...

 castellated stone monument with observation deck on Little Round Top

Little Round Top

Little Round Top is the smaller of two rocky hills south of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. It was the site of an unsuccessful assault by Confederate troops against the Union left flank on July 2, 1863, the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg....

.http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F10B10FA3F5A1A738DDDAD0894DF405B8385F0D3 On April 30, 1895, contractors were solicited for steel War Department

United States Department of War

The United States Department of War, also called the War Department , was the United States Cabinet department originally responsible for the operation and maintenance of the United States Army...

  towershttp://news.google.com/newspapers?id=x_0yAAAAIBAJ&sjid=jAAGAAAAIBAJ&pg=1474%2C6488622 http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=yP0yAAAAIBAJ&sjid=jAAGAAAAIBAJ&dq=battlefield-commission&pg=2294%2C6527603 to support roofed observatories above the northeastern forest

Northeastern coastal forests

The Northeastern coastal forests are a temperate broadleaf and mixed forests ecoregion of the northeastern United States. The ecoregion covers an area of 34,630 sq miles encompassing the Piedmont and coastal plain of seven states, extending from northern Maryland and Delaware through southeast...

 canopy (a 5th was contracted May 18, 1896).http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=iXhbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=IVENAAAAIBAJ&pg=7042,3905909&dq=zeigler+grove+tower+gettysburg&hl=en The structures were manufactured and assembled by the Variety Iron Works

Ironworks

An ironworks or iron works is a building or site where iron is smelted and where heavy iron and/or steel products are made. The term is both singular and plural, i.e...

 of Cleveland, Ohio

Cleveland, Ohio

Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...

,http://www.phmc.state.pa.us/BAH/dam/rg/ys/r46ys.htm and the Gettysburg Battlefield tower roofs were repaired in 1914 when the structures were repainted. President Warren G. Harding

Warren G. Harding

Warren Gamaliel Harding was the 29th President of the United States . A Republican from Ohio, Harding was an influential self-made newspaper publisher. He served in the Ohio Senate , as the 28th Lieutenant Governor of Ohio and as a U.S. Senator...

 used the Zeigler's Grove

Zeigler's Grove

Zeigler's Grove is a Gettysburg Battlefield location that was the location of a wooden observation tower until the late 1890s and a Cope Truss tower until the 1960s; as well as both the demolished Electric Map building and the now closed Richard Neutra's Cyclorama Building that each served as the...

 tower (1922), and Dwight D. Eisenhower

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...

 with Omar Bradley

Omar Bradley

Omar Nelson Bradley was a senior U.S. Army field commander in North Africa and Europe during World War II, and a General of the Army in the United States Army...

 used the Culp's Hill

Culp's Hill

Culps Hill is a Battle of Gettysburg landform south of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, with a heavily wooded summit of . The east slope is to Rock Creek , 160 feet lower in elevation, and the west slope is to a saddle with Stevens Knoll with a summit lower than the Culps Hill summit...

 tower (1957). Beginning in the 1950s, the US Secret Service monitored tourists on the "Longstreet tower" along Confederate Av near the Eisenhower farm

Eisenhower National Historic Site

Eisenhower National Historic Site was the home and farm of General and President of the United States Dwight D. Eisenhower and Mamie Doud Eisenhower. Located adjacent to the Gettysburg Battlefield in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, the farm served as a weekend retreat for the President and a meeting...

 purchased in 1950.

The Zeigler's Grove

Zeigler's Grove

Zeigler's Grove is a Gettysburg Battlefield location that was the location of a wooden observation tower until the late 1890s and a Cope Truss tower until the 1960s; as well as both the demolished Electric Map building and the now closed Richard Neutra's Cyclorama Building that each served as the...

 Observation Tower removed in 1961 was replaced by the 1962 Cyclorama observation deck,http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=WLslAAAAIBAJ&sjid=0PIFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1335,2501037&dq=zeigler+grove+tower+gettysburg&hl=en the Big Round Top

Big Round Top

Big Round Top is a boulder-strewn hill notable as the topographic high point of the Gettysburg Battlefield and for 1863 American Civil War engagements for which Medals of Honor were awarded...

 Observation Tower was dismantled in 1968, and the Valley Forge tower was removed in 1988. After the 1974 opening of the private Gettysburg National Tower

Gettysburg National Tower

The Gettysburg National Tower was a 307-foot hyperboloid observation tower that overlooked the Gettysburg National Military Park and Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, from 1974-2000...

, a 1977 plan for removing the Gettysburg towers was not used, and the 1974 tower was instead razed in 2000. In 2002, structural maintenance

Bridge maintenance

Maintenance of today's bridge infrastructure presents many challenges. Transportation engineering and maintenance personnel must maintain around the clock service to millions of people each year while maintaining millions of cubic meters of concrete distributed throughout their facilities. This...

 included a "complete overhaul… to the historic steel and cast iron towers" for $384,675 (the towers were painted in 1917 and 1926, and $45K was spent on the Culp's Hill tower in 1968).http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=iXhbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=IVENAAAAIBAJ&pg=7042,3905909&dq=zeigler+grove+tower+gettysburg&hl=en The remaining 3 towers and the Big Round Top Observation Tower Foundation Ruin

Big Round Top Observation Tower Foundation Ruin

The Big Round Top Observation Tower Foundation Ruin is the 19th century base of the 1st Cope Truss tower. Fred Lyons of Baltimore led the construction team that moved the foundation's granite blocks to the Big Round Top summit using block and tackle driven by a 12 horsepower...

were "entered-documented" as historic district contributing structures in 2004.