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Turtleville Iron Bridge

Coordinates: 42°33′56″N 88°57′53″W / 42.5655615°N 88.9645949°W / 42.5655615; -88.9645949
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Turtleville Iron Bridge
Turtleville Iron Bridge
Turtleville Iron Bridge is located in Wisconsin
Turtleville Iron Bridge
Locationnear Beloit, Wisconsin
Coordinates42°33′56″N 88°57′53″W / 42.5655615°N 88.9645949°W / 42.5655615; -88.9645949
Area0.2 acres (0.081 ha)
Built1887
Built byWisconsin Bridge and Iron Company
Architectural stylePratt Truss
NRHP reference No.77000053[1]
Added to NRHPSeptember 15, 1977

The Turtleville Iron Bridge is an overhead truss bridge built in 1887 where South Lathers Road crosses Turtle Creek near Beloit, Wisconsin. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.[1][2]

Turtleville was settled in 1838, growing around a dam and mill and once including a distillery, a store, a blacksmith shop, a school, church, and the once-elegant Hodson House.[3] Turtleville has since withered into a ghost town, but the cemetery and bridge survive from that era.[4]

The bridge is a single-span, 141-foot-long (43 m),[2] Pratt truss bridge built by the Wisconsin Bridge and Iron Company, and is perhaps one of its earlier truss bridges. The structure includes eye bars, pin connections, counter rods with turnbuckles, and a wooden deck. Around 1890 bridge construction was transitioning from wrought iron to steel, and the bridge is a rare surviving example of the earlier technology.[4]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  2. ^ a b "Turtleville Iron Bridge". Wisconsin Historical Society. Retrieved August 21, 2021.
  3. ^ "William Hodson". Wisconsin Historical Society. Retrieved August 21, 2021.
  4. ^ a b Danko, George M.; Douglas, Nancy Belle; Anderson, Donald N. (August 27, 1976). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Turtleville Iron Bridge / Lathers Road Bridge". National Park Service. Retrieved March 22, 2018. With two photos from 1976.
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