List of Indiana Fire Towers

Overview of my list of tower sites

I start with the “easy” ones. The first 13 can be visited. There is very little mystery about the first 13, because they are visible, on public land, and mostly climbable. Most of the standing towers are in state parks or state forests. They are clearly marked on maps. They’re easy to find. They’re often promoted to visitors.

After the “easy” 13, the list has towers that are still standing but often overlooked or incorrectly described as gone.

Then there are tower sites where the tower is gone but there is still clear evidence of the tower’s location, and then the tower sites that are totally removed.

Then some sites mentioned online that are mysteries to me; and observation towers that I don’t count. Finally I note that there are a couple private towers in Indiana.

These are the towers that you can generally approach, visit, and climb except where noted. These are easy to find and widely promoted.

I’ve climbed all of these (except Hartwell, which wasn’t in climbable condition when my brother and I visited it. Towers are periodically closed for maintenance.)

Hoosier National Forest:

Hickory Ridge (in HNF’s Deam Wilderness)

State Parks and State Forests:

These 12 towers are standing in Indiana state parks and forests:

North:

Winamac (in Tippecanoe River State Park)

Ouabache (in Ouabache State Park)

South:

McCormick’s Creek (in McCormick’s Creek State Park)

Mason Ridge (in Morgan-Monroe State Forest)

Weed Patch (in Brown County State Park)

Skyline (in Jackson-Washington State Forest)

Henryville (in Clark State Forest) (was closed for repairs in 2024)

Hartwell (in Pike State Forest) (not open, not climbable)

Ferdinand (in Ferdinand State Forest)

Lincoln (in Lincoln State Park)

Willow Valley (in Martin State Forest)

Wyandotte (in O’Bannon Woods State Park)

I don’t include the observation tower at Clifty Falls State Park here, but I discuss it later. It’s not quite a fire tower, but it is easy to get to and climb.

Some standing towers you can drive near, close enough to see, but can’t approach:

Salem: This tower is standing and visible, and can be approached by road. It is not on public property, and cannot be visited or climbed legally as far as I know.

Cincinnati: Most of this tower still exists, but the cab is pretty bad shape. It’s on private property, and cannot be climbed.

There are other towers that are still standing, to some degree, but are not approachable by car.

Standing on inaccessible property

Lilly tower exists. It is on Indiana University property in Brown County but it is only accessible with permission (which I have not yet been able to obtain.) We have seen this tower through binoculars. (Lilly is not the same as Weed Patch in Brown County State Park.)

Standing in Crane Naval Depot

Crane: There are four standing towers or tower remnants in Crane, according to Google satellite views. Two are standing normal looking towers. One is an unusual tower of which only the bottom part remains standing. The fourth is an unusual tower that is colocated with a standing water tank tower.

There are tower sites where at least one of the concrete base corners (footings) still exists but the tower is removed. I’ve been to all of these and seen that there is still evidence of the tower base.

Not standing, but base corners exist, somewhat approachable on public land:

Bryantsville aka Georgia (Hoosier National Forest)

Cataract (Owen-Putnam State Forest)

Dutch Ridge (Hoosier National Forest, Monroe County)

Five Points (Jefferson County)

German Ridge (Hoosier National Forest, Perry County)

Marchand (Hoosier National Forest, Perry County)

Muscatatuck aka Vernon (Jennings County)

These old tower sites can be confirmed from maps and other research.

Not standing – North:

Jasper-Pulaski (Pulaski County)

Not standing – South:

Borden (Clark County)

Buzzard Roost (HNF, Perry County)

Hickman Hill (Floyd County)

Houston (Jackson County)

Paoli aka Valeene or Orange (Orange County)

Pleasantville (Sullivan County)

Shoals (Martin County)

Spears aka John Spears (Crawford County)

Versailles (Versailles State Park)

West Fork (HNF, Crawford County)

Wilbur (Morgan County)

Indiana Dunes State Park – According to the 1927 Department of Conservation annual report, page 652, “there was erected a fifty foot steel tower on Mt. Jackson”. Map of Indiana Dunes State Park from 1932 mentions a fire tower. (I only came across this evidence in early 2025. This was an early observation tower, and not a tall steel tower like almost all others, so it doesn’t fit neatly into the list with all the others. It’s almost a curiosity.)

For these possible tower sites, there is no physical evidence of the tower that I know of, and the online research isn’t definitive or consistent.

Salt Creek – there’s conflicting evidence about this tower

Scales Lake (Warrick County) – This is on Ron Kemnow’s list. There might have been a tower here but I haven’t seen it on any topo. Scales Lake State Beach was the name of this property in the 1950s. It was referred to just as Scales Lake on a 1936 map on the back of Outdoor Indiana magazine. The only original source I’ve seen about this is a Boonville Indiana 1958 centennial guide with a map of downtown Boonville, showing a “FIRE TOWER” on the east side of town just south of Scales Lake State Beach.

The most unusual site for a fire tower was the Indiana State Fair! For many years starting in the mid 1930s, there was an 80-foot replica steel fire tower at the state fair grounds in Indianapolis. See pictures and stories on my History page. Even one of the black and white maps shows this.

There are some tower sites mentioned by others, that I am totally not sure about. I have not seen any evidence of these despite many hours spent looking through topographical maps.

Don’t exist as far as I can tell… yet…

Other Orange County one or two: Baker?

Bristow (Perry County) – mentioned on Forest Service website but I can find no evidence.

Another Mason Ridge site in Morgan County instead of Monroe County? I don’t know… I just have never seen any evidence that this tower was moved or had two sites.

Final notes:

Clifty: There is an observation tower at Clifty Falls State Park; I don’t consider this to be a fire lookout tower for my purposes, but others might disagree. I’d call it an observation tower; that’s what it’s called on the Clifty Falls State Park map. Should it be considered an Indiana lookout tower?

• Cons: As far back as 1932 there are maps showing a tower at Clifty Falls referred to as an Observation Tower, and rarely have I seen it called a lookout or fire tower. It doesn’t appear on the colorful firetower map or the black-and-white firetower map, so I don’t think it’s been counted by others when it comes to fire tower activity. It’s only got a couple flights of stairs. I’ve never seen it listed as a tower that was used for fire fighting.

• Pros: The structure at Clifty Falls appears to be made from the material of a metal lookout tower; it looks like the bottom of a normal tower. Some editions of the Madison West topo label it as “Lookout Tower” just like any other tower might be shown.

Brown County: There are two “lookout towers” at Brown County State Park, the North and West Lookout Towers. They’re great and worth a visit, but I’m not including them on my list. I’ve never seen them listed as fire lookout towers. They aren’t tall metal towers like all the others on my list. They are much shorter, wider, and of a completely different construction. I’ve never seen them associated with forest service or other fire protection activities. I’ve seen these referred to as observation towers, also.

There are two private towers in Indiana, from what I have heard. By that, I mean private landowners have bought public towers that had been dismantled decades ago, and had them reconstructed on private property. Nationally, this happens occasionally and is discussed amongst the lookout tower enthusiast community. My understanding is that there are two such towers in Indiana. Since they aren’t public, I don’t think it makes sense for me to mention where they are. I have not visited them.