National Register of Historic Places

Turtleville Iron Bridge

Beloit, Rock County, Wisconsin
Listed
September 14, 1977
Type
Structure
Period
Industrial
Ref No.
77000053

About this property

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. 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. Turtleville has since faded into a rural residential community, but the cemetery and bridge survive from that era. The bridge is a single-span, 141-foot-long (43 m), 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. In 2025, Rock County and the Wisconsin Department of Transportation announced that it would offer the bridge to anyone for free so long as they would move it to a new location and maintain its historic character for at least a decade.

Location

Beloit, Rock County, Wisconsin
42.56568, -88.96457

Categories

ENGINEERINGTRANSPORTATION
National Register nomination ›
Sources

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Nearby Historic Sites

Shopiere Congregational Church
Industrial
1.4 mi
Stark-Clint House
Industrial
2.4 mi
Clark-Brown House
Industrial
3.6 mi
Strong Partridge Mound Group
Pre Contact
4 mi
Murray-George House
Industrial
4.1 mi

Questions about this property

When was Turtleville Iron Bridge listed on the National Register?

Turtleville Iron Bridge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on September 14, 1977.

What type of historic resource is Turtleville Iron Bridge?

Turtleville Iron Bridge is classified as a structure in the National Register of Historic Places.

What is the period of significance for Turtleville Iron Bridge?

The period of significance for Turtleville Iron Bridge is recorded as the industrial era.

Can I research the history near Turtleville Iron Bridge?

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