FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Wayne County, Mississippi

Wausau Lookout Tower

A 1934 Aermotor lookout on the De Soto National Forest, the central tower of the Chickasawhay district until 1989 and now part of the Wausau Work Center.

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-foot Aermotor tower with 7 by 7 foot cabThe design: Aermotor
Built of
SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1934
Height
Unknown
Elevation
306 ft (93 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Wayne County, Mississippi
Coordinates
31.52998, −88.89235
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ms-wausau

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 2.8 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. 1934 BuiltBuilt by Company 231 stationed at Camp F-4Source: nhlr.org
  2. No record between 1934 and 1989
  3. 1989 EventServed as the central tower for the Chickasawhay Ranger District until 1989Source: nhlr.org
  4. 2002 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered as NHLR US 432 (MS 2) on September 15, 2002Source: nhlr.org
  5. 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 9 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

The Wausau Lookout Tower stands in Wayne County, Mississippi, inside the De Soto National Forest.1 According to the register, Company 231, based at Camp F-4, built it in 1934.1 Wikipedia dates the forest's establishment to June 15, 1936, so the tower predates it.2

The register describes a 100-foot Aermotor tower with a cab measuring 7 feet by 7 feet.1 Until 1989 it was the central lookout of the Chickasawhay Ranger District.1 The register says nothing about fires, staffing or repairs after that date.1

Today the register places the tower within the historic Wausau Work Center and describes it as the district's only surviving lookout.1 Its register number is US 432, and the entry was registered on September 15, 2002.1 The register does not describe public access.1 Please do not climb the tower. Check with the Chickasawhay Ranger District, which the register lists as a cooperator, before any visit.

  1. Wausau Lookout Tower, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/ms/wausau-lookout-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. De Soto National Forest, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Soto_National_Forest (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Wausau Lookout Tower
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Wausau Lookout Tower
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · 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, type, what it is built of, status, 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. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, 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.