FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Douglas County, Wisconsin

Flannagan Lookout

1939 Wisconsin standard tower in Douglas County, administered by the DNR; NHLR-registered 2017 and listed as standing; no staffing or access records found.

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 tower84-foot Wisconsin standard tower with external protected ladderThe design: Wisconsin standard tower
Built of
SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1939
Height
Unknown
Elevation
1,138 ft (347 m)
Agency
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
Land
Unknown
Location
Douglas County, Wisconsin
Coordinates
46.58549, −91.93616
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wi-flannagan

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. 1939 BuiltBuilt August 1939, per the registerSource: nhlr.org
  2. No record between 1939 and 2017
  3. 2017 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered August 28, 2017 as US 1244, WI 39; nominated by Tyler BormannSource: nhlr.org
  4. 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 Flannagan Lookout stands in Douglas County, Wisconsin, at an elevation of 1,138 feet (347 m).1 The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources administers it.1 The register describes an 84-foot tower of the Wisconsin standard type, with a protected ladder on the outside, and dates its construction to August 1939.1

A 2015 WXPR report says Wisconsin's fire towers went up in the 1930s and 1940s as a frontline defense for the state's woods, and that at their peak 119 were staffed across Wisconsin.2 That report covers the state program as a whole rather than this tower, so I have not treated its figures as Flannagan's own history.

The sources I read say nothing about who staffed Flannagan, what fires it watched, or whether the tower has changed since it went up.1 The register names Tyler Bormann as nominator and records the registration on August 28, 2017, as US 1244, WI 39.1 The Forest Fire Lookout Association's Wisconsin list shows it as standing.3

The same report says the DNR had announced the towers were on the way out, and that it was contacting private landowners about what comes next for the towers and their sites.2 I found no source saying what happened to Flannagan afterward. Check its current status with the DNR before planning a trip, and do not climb it if it is closed or on private land.

  1. Flannagan Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/wi/flannagan-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. State Fire Towers To Leave The Landscape, WXPR, https://www.wxpr.org/natural-resources/2015-12-21/state-fire-towers-to-leave-the-landscape (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Wisconsin Lookouts, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/wi/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Flannagan Lookout
Photo: Brian Ziegler, via 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, 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. 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, 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.