Although I was born and raised in Illinois, and live in Illinois, I’ve always been more interested in Indiana’s lookout towers. But Illinois has towers and tower sites too!
The majority of the Illinois tower sites are in the far southern part of the state, mostly in the Shawnee National Forest area. One old official map shows 16 tower sites in Shawnee, but there were more towers than that in the southern part of Illinois. (See picture below.)
Here’s a list of 30 Illinois towers that was shared by the Illinois chapter of the FFLA a few years ago.
Standing towers in Illinois
I believe there are four standing towers in Illinois:
Trigg Tower in Shawnee National Forest is standing and is open to climb. Only the bottom half of the tower still stands, and it has an observation platform on the top. The view is great and it’s worth a visit. Official page. NHLR page.
Trail of Tears State Forest has a standing tower; it’s on their map. Recent pictures show that it’s enclosed by a fence so it may not be available to climb. I haven’t been there. NHLR page.
There’s a tower near Danville at Forest Glen Forest Preserve. I haven’t been there.
There’s a standing tower at Big River State Forest near Keithsburg Illinois. I haven’t been there.
Shawnee National Forest map
