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Talcottville Main Street Bridge,
Bridge No. 4575
• Main Street Talcottville over Tankerhoosen River
• Vernon
• Wrought-iron lenticular pony truss
• Length: 58'
• Built in 1891
• Berlin Iron Bridge Company, fabricator
Talcottville's Main Street bridge is one of the best preserved of about a half-dozen lenticular pony trusses left in the state. It also is the only one still in use that continues to function as a truss; the others are now supported on secondary structural systems such as I-beams.
The bridge is typical of Berlin Iron Bridge Company's smaller spans. In addition to its lenticular form, the bridge exhibits characteristic Berlin Bridge features such as the use of tapered uprights, floor beams that are deeper in the center than at the ends, "hairpin" hangers connecting the beams to the lower-chord joints, and the company's distinctive lattice railing with cast-iron rosettes.
Only one orb-shaped finial remains as portal decoration, but presumably such finials graced the other corners of the bridge as well.
Today Main Street is a cul-de-sac cut off by Interstate 84. When this bridge was built, however, Main Street was an important road connecting the bustling mill village of Talcottville with Manchester and other parts of Vernon.
