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Fire lookout · Wadena County, Minnesota

Nimrod Fire Tower

1928 Aermotor ladder tower at the Minnesota DNR forestry station in Nimrod, Wadena County; used for fire watch in 2021 (NPR); NHLR-registered 1997.

Visit & stay

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

Access

Restricted access

Access is seasonal, gated or needs a permit. Check before you go. NPR (2021) says one northern Minnesota fire tower, probably this one, reserves itself for lookouts only, not thrill seekers; no public visiting rules were found

Can you climb it?
No
Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
NPR (2021) describes a northern Minnesota tower, probably this one, as reserved for lookouts only. The sources read give no public visiting hours or rules.
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a tower94-foot Aermotor ladder tower with a 6-foot-8-inch octagonal crow's nest cab reached by a vertical ladderThe design: Aermotor
Built of
SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1928
Height
94 ft (28.7 m)
Elevation
1,378 ft (420 m)
Agency
Minnesota Department of Natural Resources
Land
Unknown
Location
Wadena County, Minnesota
Coordinates
46.65140, −94.86970
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-mn-nimrod

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.

Downloads about 3.7 MB of terrain data the first time.

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

History

Then and now

  1. 1928 BuiltErected by the Minnesota Division of Forestry at its forestry station; the Wadena County list calls the agency the Minnesota Forest ServiceSources: nhlr.org, upload.wikimedia.org
  2. 1928 EventWadena County list: the tower has been continuously used since erectionSource: upload.wikimedia.org
  3. No record between 1928 and 1981
  4. 1981 Condition assessmentSurvey notes describe a steel structure about 100 feet high; other sources give 94 feetSource: upload.wikimedia.org
  5. No record between 1981 and 1997
  6. 1997 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered May 14, 1997; nominated by Curt Cogan, FFLASource: nhlr.org
  7. No record between 1997 and 2021
  8. 2021 StaffedNPR: staffed regularly during the fire season; one of the only towers in the state still used to detect firesSource: npr.org
  9. 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 8 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

The Nimrod Fire Tower stands at the Department of Natural Resources forestry station in Nimrod, Wadena County, Minnesota.1,2 The Minnesota Division of Forestry built it in 1928.1,3

It is a 94-foot Aermotor ladder tower with a 6-foot-8-inch octagonal cab, reached by a vertical ladder.1,3 The National Historic Lookout Register says it is the first tower of this unusual style to be listed there.1 A 1981 survey note in a Wadena County tower list calls the tower "about 100 feet high," so the sources do not fully agree on its height.3

The Register accepted the tower on May 14, 1997, on the nomination of Curt Cogan of the Forest Fire Lookout Association.1

In 2021 the tower was still in use for fire watch.2 NPR's feature that year says it is staffed regularly during the fire season, and that it is one of the few towers in the state still in use for spotting fires. Lookouts use an Osborne Fire Finder, a sighting tool from the 1920s, to help pin down where a fire is.2

The sources I read do not name any particular fire that the tower helped catch.

The tower has stayed in service.3,4 The Wadena County list says it "has been continuously used since then," meaning since 1928. The Forest Fire Lookout Association lists it as standing.3,4

NPR reported in 2021 that one northern Minnesota fire tower "reserves itself for lookouts only, not thrill seekers."2 Its Nimrod passage follows that line, so this is probably the Nimrod tower, though NPR does not name it in that sentence. The Register names the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources as administrator.1 I found no public visiting rules, so check with the DNR before any visit, and do not try the ladder without permission.

  1. Nimrod Fire Tower, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/mn/nimrod-fire-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. "See how Minnesota fire towers help preserve a 5,000-year-old bog," NPR, November 28, 2021, https://www.npr.org/sections/pictureshow/2021/11/28/1051888803/see-how-minnesota-fire-towers-help-preserve-a-5-000-year-old-bog (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Wadena County Fire Lookout Towers, Minnesota Fire Lookout Towers (PDF), Wikimedia Commons, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/29/Wadena_County_Towers.pdf (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Minnesota Lookouts, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/mn/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Nimrod Fire Tower
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Nimrod Fire Tower
Photo: Tlkremer, via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

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Sources

  1. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, what it is built of, register numbers, agency, 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. Wikidata -- US fire lookout towers (Q748998 and subclasses) Gave us: dates, photos, links Wikidata · CC0 1.0 (Wikidata). Images keep their own Commons licence/credit. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  4. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, status, agency, access, visiting details, 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.