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Fire lookout · Texas County, Missouri

Flatrock Fire Tower

Aermotor LS-40 lookout in the Flatrock State Wildlife Area; land 1942, erected 1943; height and county disputed by sources; NHLR-registered August 2026.

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. The Register places it in the Flatrock State Wildlife Area but gives no visiting rules

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
The Register says it is climbable only to the top, just beneath the cab; there is no functioning catwalk and only a locked hatch into the cab. Cab condition is unknown. No visiting rules are stated.
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a towerAermotor LS-40 towerThe design: Aermotor LS-40
Built of
SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1943
Height
50 ft (15.2 m)
Elevation
1,240 ft (378 m)
Agency
Missouri Conservation Department
Land
State land
Location
Texas County, Missouri
Coordinates
37.17056, −91.54038
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-mo-flatrock

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 3.4 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. 1942 EventLand obtained for the towersite; the annual report gives 80.78 acresSources: nhlr.org, centraluslookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1943 BuiltRegister: erected 1943 as a 100-foot Aermotor LS-40. Annual report quoted by Central Lookouts: 50-foot steel tower erected in 1943. The heights disagree.Sources: nhlr.org, centraluslookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1957 Replaced by a new structureAnnual report for FY1957-58: a steel lookout tower was built to replace a temporary wooden towerSource: centraluslookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1962 Replaced by a new structureBiennial report: a steel tower was erected to replace a temporary wood towerSource: centraluslookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1970 AlteredAnnual report for FY1969-70: a deep well was drilled, a pump installed, and a pump house, water line and pressure tank added at the towersiteSource: centraluslookouts.weebly.com
  6. 1974 AlteredThe residence at the towersite was remodeled and a room added; the residence, not the towerSource: centraluslookouts.weebly.com
  7. No record between 1974 and 2026
  8. 2026 Condition assessmentRegister: decent condition, light graffiti, some wobbly wood planks, cab condition unknownSource: nhlr.org
  9. 2026 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered August 2, 2026 as US 1834, MO 17Source: nhlr.org
  10. 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 Flatrock Fire Tower stands in the Flatrock State Wildlife Area in Texas County, Missouri, according to the National Historic Lookout Register, which accepted it on August 2, 2026.1 Another lookout history places it in Shannon County, in the Angeline Conservation Area, so the county is in dispute.2

The Register says online resources indicate that the land was obtained in 1942 and the tower erected in 1943.1 It describes the tower as a 100-foot Aermotor LS-40.1 A Missouri Conservation Commission annual report, as quoted on the lookout history site, records a 50-foot steel tower erected in 1943.2 The two sources do not agree on the height, and the annual report entry does not say which structure it covers. A 2022 Missouri Conservationist article says most of the state's towers were 100 feet tall, which does not settle the question.3

Later reports describe steel towers replacing temporary wooden ones.2 A fiscal 1957-58 entry describes one such replacement, and a 1962 entry describes another.2 Read together, the early record does not clearly say which steel tower stands today. In fiscal 1969-70, a deep well was drilled and a pump installed at the towersite.2

The sources I read do not say who staffed the tower, when the watch ended, or whether it helped catch any particular fire.

The Register calls the tower in decent condition, with light graffiti and some wobbly wooden planks. It says the condition of the cab is unknown.1

The Register says visitors could go only as high as the top of the tower, right under the cab. It adds that the catwalk is not usable and that a locked hatch leads into the cab.1 It does not say whether the public may enter the area or the towersite. Check with the Missouri Conservation Department before going, and do not climb it unless it is open to the public.

  1. Flatrock Fire Tower, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/mo/flatrock-fire-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Flat Rock, Forest Lookouts, https://centraluslookouts.weebly.com/flat-rock.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Shooting the Smoke, Missouri Conservationist, Missouri Department of Conservation, July 2022, https://mdc.mo.gov/magazines/missouri-conservationist/2022-07/shooting-smoke (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Flatrock Fire Tower
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source

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Sources

  1. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, what it is built of, status, 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 LOOKOUTS -- central US (centraluslookouts.weebly.com) Gave us: height, ownership, links centraluslookouts.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
  3. OpenStreetMap -- fire lookout structures Gave us: type, links © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0. (c) OpenStreetMap contributors. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  4. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, status, agency, access, staffing, 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.