FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Monroe County, Indiana

Hickory Ridge Lookout Tower

A 110-ft CCC-built steel tower from 1936 in the Hoosier National Forest, staffed about 40 years until the late 1970s, restored in 1989, and now the last of eight original towers in the forest.

Visit & stay

Not rentable. As far as we know, this lookout cannot be booked for overnight stays.

Access

Access unknown

We do not know the access rules. Check with the land manager before you go. No source consulted states current public access or climbability; it sits within the Charles C. Deam Wilderness on the Hoosier National Forest

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Unknown
Staffing
Not staffed (as of 1977)

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a tower110-ft steel Aermotor tower with 7x7 ft cab; originally 123 wooden steps, now 133 steel stepsThe design: Aermotor
Built of
Steel
Built
1936
Height
110 ft (33.5 m)
Elevation
895 ft (273 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Monroe County, Indiana
Coordinates
39.03461, −86.32132
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-in-hickory-ridge

View from the cab

What you see from the cab: every ridge out to about 93 miles, the named peaks in sight, and other fire lookouts within view, worked out from terrain data in your browser.

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Or see what it could see on the map: the ground in its line of sight.

History

Then and now

  1. 1936 BuiltConstruction began 1936 under the CCCSources: nhlr.org, en.wikipedia.org
  2. No record between 1936 and 1977
  3. 1977 Last staffedManning ceased in the late 1970s as other fire-detection technology replaced it (approximate; Wikipedia says 'late 1970s')Source: en.wikipedia.org
  4. 1989 RestoredTower was restored in 1989 per NHLR; wooden steps replaced with steel onesSources: nhlr.org, en.wikipedia.org
  5. 1990 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterAdded to National Historic Lookout Register in October 1990, first Indiana tower so listedSources: nhlr.org, en.wikipedia.org
  6. No record between 1990 and 2013
  7. 2013 RestoredTower was repainted to cover graffiti, but vandals promptly tagged its sides again.Source: firelookout.org
  8. TodayStandingIt still stands, as far as our sources know.

Old maps of this spot

USGS topographic maps from the years a lookout stood may show it, often as a small symbol labelled “Lookout”. See the old topo maps around it on the Firefinder map, or find every scanned sheet of this spot on USGS TopoView (click the spot there to list them, with dates and downloads).

Story

Researched 4 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Hickory Ridge Lookout Tower stands on the edge of the Charles C. Deam Wilderness in Indiana's Hoosier National Forest.1 The Civilian Conservation Corps began building it in 1936, a 110-foot steel Aermotor tower topped by a small seven-by-seven-foot cab.1,2 The climb up originally took 123 wooden steps; those have since been replaced with 133 steel ones.2 At the base there was once a cabin or guard station, a latrine, and a garage, though only the tower itself remains today.2

For about 40 years, lookouts staffed the tower during periods of high fire danger, with a small crew of firefighters based at the bottom ready to respond when smoke was spotted.2 Some of the busiest stretches saw as many as four or five fire reports a day, and one of the largest fires on record in the area came within half a mile of the tower before crews stopped it.2 The tower itself was never burned, though it has taken at least one lightning strike over the years.2

Staffing ended in the late 1970s, as aerial patrols and other fire-detection methods made a continuously manned tower unnecessary.2 Hickory Ridge had originally been one of eight fire towers on the Hoosier National Forest; it is now the only one still standing.1,2 The structure underwent a restoration in 1989, and the following year, in October 1990, it was added to the National Historic Lookout Register, the first Indiana tower to earn that listing.1,2

The tower has drawn local media attention over the years, including a 2013 feature on Indiana Public Media.1 The National Historic Lookout Register's own records do not note a public NHLR sign at the site or any current staffing or volunteer program, and nothing in the sources consulted says whether the structure is open for the public to climb today.1 Anyone visiting the Deam Wilderness area should check current Forest Service guidance before assuming access.

  1. Hickory Ridge Lookout Tower, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/in/hickory-ridge-lookout-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-04). ↩
  2. Hickory Ridge Fire Tower, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hickory_Ridge_Fire_Tower (accessed 2026-10-04). ↩

Photos

Photo of Hickory Ridge Lookout Tower
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Hickory Ridge Lookout Tower
Photo: Darmon, via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.5 · source

Photos keep their own rights and are shown with credit. Is one of these yours? You can ask for a different credit or for removal.

Sources

  1. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, what it is built of, register numbers, agency, ownership, dates, photos, links National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved (American Resources, Inc.); facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  2. Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA) - US lookout lists Gave us: type, status, register numbers, links Forest Fire Lookout Association (firelookout.org) · No licence stated; facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  3. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- eastern US (easternuslookouts.weebly.com) Gave us: height, links easternuslookouts.weebly.com · No licence stated; facts only (county, coordinates where the page's own map widget gives them, status, height, design hints, register links). The site's own historical quotes, newspaper citations and narrative are not reproduced. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  4. Forest Fire Lookout Association chapter reports Gave us: dates, links Forest Fire Lookout Association, chapter and restoration-grant reports (firelookout.org) · No licence stated; facts only (dates, names, the kind of work done). Every note is our own wording and every event links to the FFLA report it comes from. Positions are copied from the NHLR, FFLOS and FFLA records. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  5. Wikidata -- US fire lookout towers (Q748998 and subclasses) Gave us: photos, links Wikidata · CC0 1.0 (Wikidata). Images keep their own Commons licence/credit. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  6. OpenStreetMap -- fire lookout structures Gave us: access, links © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0. (c) OpenStreetMap contributors. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  7. Indiana Fire Towers (Mark Armantrout) Gave us: links Indiana Fire Towers (Mark Armantrout, indianafiretowers.com) · No licence stated; facts only (names, county, coordinates, a status read from the condition line, links). The guide's histories, trip reports and photos are not reproduced. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  8. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, status, agency, access, staffing, dates, links, fact-check Firefinder research (sources cited in the story footnotes) · Our own research notes; each fact cites its source in the lookout's story

More about this lookout elsewhere

Firefinder takes facts (places, dates, numbers) from these sources and writes its own words. See all sources and licences.