FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Price County, Wisconsin

Park Falls Lookout

Built 1934 in Butternut per the 2024 chapter report, moved to Park Falls, then bought from the DNR and moved to private land in 2018. Not gone.

Private land

No public access. Please do not trespass; view it only from public land. On private property less than five miles from the former Park Falls site, per the 2024 and 2025 chapter reports. The reports describe no visiting arrangements.

Moved: The structure was moved. The map shows where it stands now; the timeline says where it came from. Moved off the Park Falls site in 2018. The 2024 and 2025 chapter reports place it on private property less than five miles from Park Falls.

Visit & stay

Not rentable. As far as we know, this lookout cannot be booked for overnight stays.

Access

Private land. See the warning at the top of this page.

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

Facts

Status
Moved sources disagree
Type
Cab on a towerAppears to be a standard 100-foot Aermotor tower with a US Forest Service-style stairway, per NHLR; the register says year and height are unknownThe design: Aermotor
Built of
SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1934
Height
Unknown
Elevation
1,526 ft (465 m)
Agency
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (administrator per NHLR; sold the tower in 2018 per the chapter reports)
Land
Unknown
Location
Price County, Wisconsin
Coordinates
45.92963, −90.44166
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wi-park-falls

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.

The structure was moved. This view is from the position Firefinder shows for this record, at a typical height for a lookout like it.

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. 1934 BuiltErected in Butternut in 1934 per the 2024 chapter report; later moved to Park Falls (no date given). NHLR says the year of construction is unknown.Sources: firelookout.org, nhlr.org
  2. No record between 1934 and 2017
  3. 2017 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered June 28, 2017 as US 1218, WI 24Source: nhlr.org
  4. 2018 MovedBought from the DNR and moved to private property less than five miles from the Park Falls siteSources: firelookout.org, firelookout.org
  5. TodayMovedThe structure was moved. The map shows where it stands now; the timeline says where it came from. When it came down is not recorded.

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 10 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

The Park Falls tower was erected in 1934 in Butternut, Wisconsin, according to the state chapter of the Forest Fire Lookout Association.1 The National Historic Lookout Register gives no construction year.2 It describes a stairway in the style of the US Forest Service and says the tower appears to be a 100-foot Aermotor.2 The register does not know the year, so the 1934 date rests on the chapter report alone.2,1

The register lists the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources as administrator, and records the registration on June 28, 2017, as US 1218, WI 24.2

The chapter's 2024 report says the tower was later moved to Park Falls.1 In 2018 the DNR sold it, and it was moved onto private property less than five miles from the Park Falls site.1,3

Today the tower is located on that private land, so the Park Falls site itself no longer holds it.1,3 The sources describe the land as private, so this story does not suggest a visit.1,3

  1. 2024 Wisconsin FFLA Chapter Report, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/cr-wi-2024.pdf (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  2. Park Falls Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/wi/park-falls-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  3. 2025 Wisconsin FFLA Chapter Report, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/cr-wi-2025.pdf (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩

Photos

Photo of Park Falls Lookout
Photo: Gary Weber, 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.

Where sources disagree

We show disagreements between sources instead of quietly picking one. If you know which is right, please tell us.

  • Sources disagree on whether it still stands.

    • FFLA: Gone
    • NHLR: Standing

    NHLR lists lookouts that were standing when registered.

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 Fire Lookout Association chapter reports Gave us: dates, links Forest Fire Lookout Association, chapter and restoration-grant reports (firelookout.org) · No licence stated; facts only (dates, names, the kind of work done). Every note is our own wording and every event links to the FFLA report it comes from. Positions are copied from the NHLR, FFLOS and FFLA records. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  4. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, status, agency, access, 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.