Hurshtown/Van Zile Road Bridge, 3.8 miles north of Grabill, Indiana, in Allen County, Indiana. Intersected-Van Zile Road over St. Joseph River. Construction Date-1883. Structure Length-176'8", Main Span Length-175'. Structure Type: One-Span, Metal 14 Panel Pin-Connected Whipple (Double-Intersection Pratt) Through Truss, Fixed. Builder/Contractor: Massillon Bridge Company of Massillon, Ohio. Rehabilitation Date-1999. Inventory Number-2000. GPS: 41.246370,-84.972980.
History
The board of Commissioners decided in April1883 to seek bids for a bridge near Hursh's Mill on the much-used road between Fort Wayne, Cedarville, and Urbana in Allen County. The Board named Jerome D. Gloyd as superintendent of construction. When a month later the Commissioners received proposals for the substructure and superstructure of the Hursh Bridge, they selected William Moellering to build the abutments with either Besen or Stony Point stone and the Massillon Bridge Company of Massillon, Ohio to fabricate the iron superstructure. Massillon Bridge did not make the lowest proposal. Three proposals-one probably of timber and two for a combination of timber and iron, were lower, and the Mount Vernon Bridge Company brought a bid at the same price as Massillon's at $35 per linear foot for wrought iron. In all the Massillon Bridge span was contracted to cost the county $6,195 when erected to two coats of iron-clad paint mixed with the linseed oil. Moellering received $5,339.87 for his stone work.
Description
Massillon fabricated a pinned, double-intersection Pratt (Whipple) through-truss span 24' highand subdivided into fourteen panels. The endpost and top chord members were all made from a pair of channels riveted together with a cover plate above and battens below. The lower chord consists of pairs of die-forged eyebars which are heavier toward midspan. Aside from the pair of rods which serve as hangers for at the hip, the other verticals were fabricated from a pair of latticed channels riveted to pin plates above and below. With 7" channels, the outer intermediate channels are heaviest; the next two are 6"; and the most central five are 4". A pair of die-forged eyebars, growing smaller as midspan is approach, provide most of the diagonals. Cylindrical rod with turnbuckles serve as counters in the three panels on each side of the center. Heavy latticed portal struts braced with open-circle decoration, struts of a pair of channels and pin-plates between upper panel points, and upper lateral bracing of adjustable rods, help to stiffen the trusses against the impact of moving loads.U-bolted to the lower pins, rolled I floor-beam stringers that carry the asphalt-over-timber deck. A pair of channels line each truss as a railing. Allen County authorities made a major investment for the crossing of the St. Joseph River on an important roadway next to a much-used mill. The commissioners selected a significant local mason to build the stone structure and a prolific Ohio fabricator to design and erect the wrought iron superstructure. The Whipple, often reserved as here for long spans, is increasingly rare in the Indiana landscape. The Hursh Bridge retains its original members, including its decoratively latticed portals and bracing.
