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Fire lookout · Shawano County, Wisconsin

Kolpack Lookout

100-foot Wisconsin standard tower built June 1932 in Shawano County; listed as standing, with no staffing or access record 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 towerWisconsin standard tower with an external protected ladderThe design: Wisconsin standard tower
Built of
SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1932
Height
100 ft (30.5 m)
Elevation
1,345 ft (410 m)
Agency
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
Land
Unknown
Location
Shawano County, Wisconsin
Coordinates
44.92134, −89.00689
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wi-kolpack

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 4.1 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. 1932 BuiltBuilt June 1932 per the NHLR detail pageSource: nhlr.org
  2. No record between 1932 and 2017
  3. 2017 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered June 28, 2017; NHLR US 1219, WI 25Source: 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 Kolpack Lookout is in Shawano County, Wisconsin, with an elevation of 1,345 feet (410 m).1 The National Historic Lookout Register describes it as a 100-foot Wisconsin standard tower with an external protected ladder, built in June 1932.1 According to a WJFW feature, Civilian Conservation Corps workers erected many of the towers that survive in Wisconsin during the 1930s.2 The sources I read do not say who built this one.

The WJFW feature also describes how the network was run. Its towers were manned from May to September for many decades, and staffing was later cut back to the peak of the fire season.2 I found no record of who staffed the Kolpack tower or when.

The Forest Fire Lookout Association lists the tower as standing.3 The WJFW feature says that in 2015 the 72 towers still in use were decommissioned, and that some have been dismantled while many remain as monuments.2 The sources I read do not say whether this tower was one of the 72.

The register names the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources as administrator and gives June 28, 2017 as the date it was registered.1 I found nothing on public access, so check with the DNR before visiting, and do not climb it unless the DNR has said it is open.

  1. Kolpack Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/wi/kolpack-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Connecting the dots: the fire towers of Wisconsin, WJFW, https://www.wjfw.com/news/connecting-the-dots-the-fire-towers-of-wisconsin/article_fd447056-4b4e-11ed-b245-cf384385e71f.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Wisconsin Lookouts, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/wi/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Kolpack Lookout
Photo: Brian Ziegler, 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. 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.