Hickory Ridge Fire Tower

Hickory Ridge Fire Tower, in the Charles C. Deam Wilderness Area of Indiana’s Hoosier National Forest, was built in 1936 by the Civilian Conservation Corps as a fire lookout and still stands as the forest’s only surviving tower of its kind. The steel Aermotors-type structure supported wildfire detection for about 40 years, with a lookout using an alidade in the cab to locate smoke while a firefighting crew waited below. During busy periods, four or five fires a day were spotted, and one major blaze came within half a mile of the tower. Added to the National Historic Lookout Register in October 1990, it remains open year-round as an observation tower.

Freetown, Indiana · United States