Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004. 8 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1915.
From the record
“The Canisteo Living Sign is a historic civic project that was built by Ed Childs and Harry Smith, donated to the Canisteo School District, that also served as a navigational aid, located at Canisteo in Steuben County, New York. The sign consists of a set of 260 pine trees that spell out the name "Canisteo." They occupy a space approximately 90 feet (27 m) long and 300 feet (91 m) wide.”
Wikipedia article Canisteo Living Sign, CC BY-SA 4.0.
One of 63 National Register listings published here for Steuben County · listed in 2004 · category: Site.
National Register reference number.04000707- the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.
Fires near this property
122 since 1992
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The
federal wildfire occurrence database
lists 122 fires within 5 miles of Canisteo Living Sign
between 1992 and 2020, burning about 221 acres in total. 5 started naturally. 17 were recorded as arson.
Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted
here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
Reported cause
Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined
65
Arson/incendiarism
17
Debris and open burning
15
Smoking
11
Natural
5
Power generation/transmission/distribution
4
Equipment and vehicle use
3
Misuse of fire by a minor
2
The most recent of
them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service
that recorded it.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists
2 workings within 5 miles of Canisteo Living Sign: 2 producers.
All of them still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction. Distance is straight-line from the
map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring
settlement's page as well.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The National Weather Service names
Canisteo, the town this property stands in, in 34 storm reports between 1993 and 2026: 16 flash flood, 14 thunderstorm wind, 3 hail, 1 tornado.
No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office
filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date
opens the federal record of that event.
An isolated slow-moving thunderstorm produced around 2.5 inches of rain in a short period of time in Hornell and Addision causing more flash flooding of streams and creeks.
Heavy rain from thunderstorms produced flash flooding in and around Adrian and South Canisteo. More than 3 inches of rain fell in a 90 minute period during the late evening of August 7th. The flooding caused severe road damage. Several residences also suffered damage from this flood. One residence had a pool, a shed, and a propane tank washed away when the creek went out of its bank. The propane tank was attached to the house.
A tornado tracked for approximately 1 mile in the town of Canisteo. The maximum width was 200 yards but the worst damage was 75 to 100 yards wide. The tornado started on the east side of Bush Hill just west of State Route 36 about 1 mile south of Gravel Run Road. The tornado moved south along Route 36 and Colonel Bills Creek before moving across both prior to reaching Rock Run Road. The majority of the damage was to large trees. An estimated 100 to 200 trees were uprooted or snapped in half. Significant crop damage was observed in a cornfield. A barn had one side of its tin roof peeled off. Other damage at the farm included a sheared electric pole, a recreational vehicle with two tree branches embedded in it, a silage wagon that was moved, electric lines ripped from the house and barn.
Numerous roads were flooded in and around the Village of Canisteo, and the town of Hartsville. County Route 128, State Route 248 and Fall Creek Road were flooded.
United States Geological Survey topographic
sheets whose coverage includes this point. Matched by taking the coordinate the National Park Service records for this property, then
testing that coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet.
Other National Register properties close
enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both
positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties
to their map sheets.
Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.
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