Raymond Denton probably remembers it better than most since it was basically a second home to him while serving as Wilson County's forest ranger during the 1950s.
Denton, who was a ranger from 1952 until his retirement in the 1980s, spoke during a recent interview about his memories of the tower.
He said that during the spring burning season, which usually ran from the last of February until the end of June, much of his time was spent either in the tower or in the office beside it.
He was basically on call continuously during that period, including weekends, and said even when he got to go home he had to stay near the phone.
"Sometimes on Sundays my wife, Reba, would bring meals out to me and we'd eat together," he said.
Denton wasn't the only one who worked in the tower as he had several operators who assisted him.
He said that items found inside included maps, a transom (used for determining location), a radio and a telephone, but no television.
Records don't show exactly when the 110-foot-tall structure was erected, but it was the only one in Wilson County and was built to provide a place for keeping watch for fires that sprang up on rural forest land.
This was in the early days prior to 911, cell phones and other modern equipment, and the tower represented the first defense against forest fires.
Denton said it had been built near the geographic center of the county to allow the tower watcher to view all directions.
"You could see all the way down to Saratoga," Denton said. "If you saw smoke you could pinpoint where it was with the transom."
The tower was still there as late as the early 1960s, and the area across the street was just a tobacco field.
The building boom changed that, however, and within a few years the area landscape had changed dramatically with the building of Vinson-Bynum Elementary School, Wilson Memorial Hospital (now Wilson Medical Center), Parkwood Mall (now Wilson Mall) along with other nearby restaurants, strip malls, banks and other businesses.
Additionally, the arrival of modern emergency telecommunication systems helped signal the end of the tower's importance in helping fight forest fires.
It needed to either be moved or torn down, so new property owners had it dismantled and moved piece by piece to its current location at the intersection of Old Raleigh Highway and Lamm Road near Hunt High School.
barnes@wilsondaily.com | 265-7855