Saxonburg looking for more money to fix Roebling’s workshop
SAXONBURG — The borough is still looking for financing to save John Roebling’s original wire rope workshop from sinking into the ground.
The borough is applying for a Keystone Historic Preservation Grant worth $90,000.
If Saxonburg receives the grant, the money will go a long way toward raising the necessary $250,000 it would take to save the workshop where the borough’s founder, John Roebling, invented wire rope in the mid-19th century. The workshop’s foundation has been sinking into the ground since at least 2017, and access to the building is currently restricted.
The grant is maintained by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, which provides grants between $5,000 and $100,000 for projects that preserve, rehabilitate or restore historic landmarks in Pennsylvania. The grant is a 50/50 match, which means the applicant must provide an amount of money equal to what they are asking for.
According to borough manager Steven May, funds for the match will be drawn from $90,000 in the wire rope workshop fund held by the Friends of the Saxonburg Museum, the nonprofit that currently operates the museum on behalf of the borough.
The workshop’s tilt hasn’t been helped by the amount of snow Saxonburg has received this year, although May says the building hasn’t taken as much damage as it did last winter.
“We didn’t get a lot of heavy snow on the roof this year,” May said. “We did get snow, but in smaller batches. If there’s a big snowstorm, anything more than 4 inches, we get a big rake on a 30-foot pole, we go up and we pull the snow off the roof. We haven’t had to do that this year.”
