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Fire lookout · Ashland County, Wisconsin

Glidden Lookout

1932 Wisconsin standard tower in Ashland 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 tower80-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
1932
Height
Unknown
Elevation
1,589 ft (484 m)
Agency
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
Land
Unknown
Location
Ashland County, Wisconsin
Coordinates
46.13456, −90.56556
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wi-glidden

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.

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

History

Then and now

  1. 1932 BuiltBuilt in 1932, per the register; no builder namedSource: nhlr.org
  2. No record between 1932 and 2017
  3. 2017 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered August 16, 2017 as US 1228, WI 32; 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 Glidden Lookout stands in Ashland County, Wisconsin, at an elevation of 1,589 feet (484 m).1 The register describes an 80-foot tower of the Wisconsin standard type, with a protected ladder on the outside, and dates it to 1932.1 The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources administers it.1

The 1932 date comes from the register alone, in the sources I read. The Central US lookouts page for Glidden lists it only under "Wisconsin - Ashland County", with no build date, history or staffing record.2

A 2015 WXPR report says Wisconsin's fire towers went up in the 1930s and 1940s, that at their peak 119 were staffed across the state, and that the DNR had announced they were on the way out.3 The report covers the state program as a whole and does not name Glidden.3 It also puts a typical tower at about 100 feet, taller than the 80 feet the register gives for this one.3,1

The register gives a registration date of August 16, 2017, as US 1228, WI 32, and names Tyler Bormann as nominator.1 The Forest Fire Lookout Association lists it as standing.4 I found no source saying whether the tower has been removed, moved or changed since that 2015 announcement, so its current status needs checking.

The sources give no access, visit or climbing information. Check with the DNR before going, and do not climb it if it is closed or on private land.

  1. Glidden Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/wi/glidden-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Glidden, Forest Lookouts (centraluslookouts.weebly.com), https://centraluslookouts.weebly.com/glidden.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. 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). ↩
  4. Wisconsin Lookouts, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/wi/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Glidden Lookout
Photo: Gary Weber, via 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, 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. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- central US (centraluslookouts.weebly.com) Gave us: 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
  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.