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Fire lookout · Union County, Mississippi

Union Lookout Tower

Also known as Center (Union), Center Lookout Tower

Standing 100 ft Aermotor tower in Union County, MS, registered by NHLR in June 2022; the site includes County Forester accommodations; build date and visit access unknown.

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.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Unknown
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a tower100 ft Aermotor tower; site includes accommodations for the County Forester and outbuildingsThe design: Aermotor
Built of
SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
Unknown
Height
100 ft (30.5 m)
Elevation
619 ft (189 m)
Agency
Mississippi Forestry Commission
Land
Unknown
Location
Union County, Mississippi
Coordinates
34.49500, −88.89421
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ms-union

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 2.9 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. 2022 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered on the National Historic Lookout Register 23 June 2022; nominated by Jason JohnsSource: nhlr.org
  2. 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 Union Lookout Tower stands in Union County, Mississippi, at about 619 feet above sea level.1 The register says the site was once thought to be the Center Lookout Tower, but the Forestry Commission's own signage confirmed the Union name.1 The Forest Lookouts index still files it under the Center name, as "Center (Union)", and OpenStreetMap calls it the Center Lookout Tower.2,3

The register describes a 100-foot Aermotor tower.1 Aermotor built its towers from galvanized steel.4 The register gives no build date.1 The register says the site includes accommodations for the County Forester, and it lists a main residence, a quonset hut, a secondary shed and a mechanics bay on the property.1

The tower was registered on June 23, 2022, with Jason Johns as nominator.1 The register's entry gives no site visit date.1 I found no staffing record, fire history or report of notable fires for this tower.

The register lists the Mississippi Forestry Commission as the administering agency.1 I found no record of the tower being abandoned, moved or rebuilt. The register does not say whether it is open to visitors.1 I found no recent condition report. Check with the Forestry Commission before planning a visit.

  1. Union Lookout Tower, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/ms/union-lookout-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Center (Union), Forest Lookouts, https://easternuslookouts.weebly.com/center.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Center Lookout Tower, OpenStreetMap, https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/357997086 (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. The Aermotor Company: From Windmills to Forest Lookout Towers, Society for Industrial Archeology, https://www.sia-web.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Vol48_No4_Fall_2019_Web1.pdf (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Union Lookout Tower
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Union Lookout Tower
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Union Lookout Tower
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Union Lookout Tower
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Union Lookout 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, type, 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 -- eastern US (easternuslookouts.weebly.com) Gave us: 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
  3. OpenStreetMap -- fire lookout structures Gave us: links © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0. (c) OpenStreetMap contributors. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  4. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, status, agency, 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.