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Fire lookout · Marinette County, Wisconsin

Pembine Lookout Tower (now at Paust)

Also known as Paust Lookout

Aermotor tower built near Pembine, Wisconsin, in 1933 or 1934; surplused and sold 1990, moved to Paust's resort 1991, now in Governor Thompson State Park; NHLR-registered 2003.

Original site: Pembine Lookout Tower

Visit & stay

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

Access

Open to the public. The Register lists the location as Governor Thompson State Park; no source says whether the tower itself can be climbed

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

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a tower100-foot Aermotor tower (NHLR); the Historical Society record lists its wall material as metal and names International Stacey Company in the architect fieldThe designs: Aermotor, Other steel maker
Built of
SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1933
Height
100 ft (30.5 m)
Elevation
924 ft (282 m)
Agency
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
Land
Unknown
Location
Marinette County, Wisconsin
Coordinates
45.32627, −88.21784
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wi-pembine-at-paust

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. 1933 BuiltBuilt at its original location in November 1933 (Wisconsin Historical Society); the Register gives 1934 and credits the CCCSources: wisconsinhistory.org, nhlr.org
  2. 1936 EventA November 1936 newspaper item, quoted on the Faithorn lookout page (Michigan), mentions the Wisconsin fire tower near Pembine as a telephone link pointSource: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  3. No record between 1936 and 1990
  4. 1990 EventState declared the tower surplus and sold it to Dale PaustSources: nhlr.org, wisconsinhistory.org
  5. 1991 MovedMoved by Dale Paust to his Woods Lake resort, its current location (Historical Society); the Register says he moved and rebuilt it there without a dateSources: wisconsinhistory.org, nhlr.org
  6. 2000 EventState purchased the resort for a state park; Governor Thompson State Park was created (Register, Wikipedia)Sources: nhlr.org, en.wikipedia.org
  7. 2003 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered September 9, 2003 as US 107, WI 2Source: nhlr.org
  8. Date unknown MovedMoved from Pembine to Paust.Source: FFLA
  9. 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 Governor Thompson Fire Lookout Tower, also called the Pembine/Paust Tower, began near Pembine in Marinette County, Wisconsin.1,2 The state's Wisconsin Historical Society record says it was built at its original location in November 1933.2 The National Historic Lookout Register gives 1934 and credits the Civilian Conservation Corps with building the 100-foot Aermotor tower for the state.1 The two sources disagree by a year, and only the Register names the CCC.1,2

The Register's 100-foot height is the only height in these sources.1 The Historical Society record lists the wall material as metal and names the International Stacey Company in its architect field, a name the Register does not mention.2,1

The tower was an active lookout until the 1980s, according to the Historical Society and the Register.2,1 Its use goes back further: a November 1936 newspaper item, quoted on a page about the Faithorn lookout in Michigan, reports that a telephone line was being strung between the Wisconsin tower near Pembine and the Michigan tower at Faithorn.3 The sources read do not name any lookout or any fire the tower watched.

In 1990 the state declared the tower surplus and sold it to Dale Paust.1,2 Paust moved it to his Woods Lake resort, and the Historical Society dates the move to 1991.1,2 The state later bought the resort and made it a state park in 2000, according to the Register and Wikipedia.1,4 Wikipedia says the park's main parcel was the former Paust Woods Lake Resort and that the park opened in 2005.4

The Register lists the tower's location as Governor Thompson State Park and records its registration as US 107, WI 2 on September 9, 2003.1 No source says whether the tower itself is open to visitors or can be climbed, so ask the park before planning a trip to it.

  1. Paust Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/wi/paust-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. PAUST LN, Pembine/Paust Tower, Wisconsin Historical Society, https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/record/property/HI234017/paust-ln (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Faithorn, Eastern US Lookouts (easternuslookouts.weebly.com), https://easternuslookouts.weebly.com/faithorn.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Governor Thompson State Park, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Governor_Thompson_State_Park (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Pembine Lookout Tower (now at Paust)
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Pembine Lookout Tower (now at Paust)
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source

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Sources

  1. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) Gave us: 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: name, type, status, register numbers, dates, links Forest Fire Lookout Association (firelookout.org) · No licence stated; facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  3. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, 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.