Turtleville Iron Bridge

{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2023}}

{{Infobox NRHP

| name = Turtleville Iron Bridge

| image = Turtleville Iron Bridge, Spanning Turtle Creek, on Lathers Road, Beloit vicinity (Rock County, Wisconsin).jpg

| caption = Turtleville Iron Bridge

| location = near Beloit, Wisconsin

| built = 1887

| architecture = Pratt Truss

| added = September 15, 1977

| coordinates = {{coord|42.5655615|-88.9645949|display=inline,title}}

| locmapin = Wisconsin

| builder = Wisconsin Bridge and Iron Company

| area = {{convert|0.2|acre|ha}}

| refnum = 77000053{{NRISref|version=2010a}}

}}

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.{{cite web|title=Turtleville Iron Bridge|url=https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Property/HI27352|publisher=Wisconsin Historical Society|accessdate=2021-08-21}}

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.{{cite web|title=William Hodson|url=https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Property/HI83206|publisher=Wisconsin Historical Society|accessdate=2021-08-21}} Turtleville has since withered into a ghost town, but the cemetery and bridge survive from that era.

The bridge is a single-span, {{Convert|141|ft|m|adj=mid|-long}}, 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.{{Cite web |url={{NRHP url|id=77000053}} |title=National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Turtleville Iron Bridge / Lathers Road Bridge |publisher=National Park Service |last=Danko |first=George M. |last2=Douglas |first2=Nancy Belle |last3=Anderson |first3=Donald N. |date=August 27, 1976 |access-date=March 22, 2018}} With {{NRHP url|id=77000053|photos=y|title=two photos from 1976}}.