Donations will pay for study of historic building in Saxonburg
Saxonburg residents treasure their status as the location of the invention of wire rope, and they’re not afraid to pony up to save the remnants of that designation.
Fred Caesar, volunteer curator at the Saxonburg Museum, said Friends of Saxonburg Museum collected $28,304 in donations to pay for a study on the Roebling Wire Rope Workshop’s damaged foundation in Roebling Park.
Caesar, who is president of Friends of Saxonburg Museum, recently gave the check to borough officials so Etzel Engineer & Build, the Saxonburg company hired to conduct the study, could be paid.
He said the fact that his organization was able to collect enough to cover the study is a testament to the connection Saxonburg residents have to the Roebling legacy.
“They understand the history of this area, and they want it preserved,” Caesar said. “They want future generations to learn about this history.”
Caesar can envision in his mind’s eye John Roebling in 1840 standing over a set of drawings or wire-twisting prototype machine in the little wooden building as he toiled to figure out how to create the wire rope that would eventually suspend the Brooklyn Bridge over the East River in New York City.
“He did that work here,” Caesar said. “He got his first patent here, and that’s where it all started.”
While Caesar at one time allowed visitors inside the shop on tours, they can now only peer through the open door due to safety concerns.
He laments that curious visitors cannot get a closer look at Roebling’s workshop and office, where axes were used to square the wood used in the shop’s construction.
“You can see all the ax marks, and it still has much of the mud, straw and clay they used for insulation,” Caesar said.
Regarding donations for repairs, he said some were $25, others were a few hundred and some donate annually, but everyone pitched in to potentially save the wire rope shop through the Etzel study.
“Word has been out in the community for the last year about the wire rope workshop’s foundation,” Caesar said.
The shop was moved in 1975 from its original location at the corner of Rebecca and Water streets to its current spot in an effort to save the building from being demolished.
Caesar said the ground in the area is naturally wet — hence the name Water Street — and the foundation has deteriorated since then.
The replica of the Brooklyn Bridge that is attached to the shop was originally part of a parade float, and placed at the park when it was no longer used in parades.
Caesar said the National Register wants the bridge removed from the wire rope shop when repairs are made.
He does not know where the bridge will be placed once it is detached from the shop.
“There are lots of options for the bridge,” Caesar said. “The borough will decide.”
Mary Papik, borough manager, said the study on the wire rope shop’s foundation is all but finished.
She said she is hoping the council at its March 21 meeting will review the results, Etzel’s recommendations and the estimated cost of foundation repairs.
The study’s purpose, in addition to determining the work needed at the shop, is to see if repairs are feasible, Papik said.
Because the borough owns the museum, park and wire rope shop, council will decide whether to move forward with repairs on Roebling’s shop.
Papik appreciates the dedication to the Roebling history displayed by the Friends of the Saxonburg Museum group and its donors in paying for the study.
“Friends of Saxonburg Museum is attempting to preserve a piece of not only Saxonburg history, but truly, world history,” Papik said. “We think it’s phenomenal that Friends has undertaken this effort.”
Caesar said that should council approve the repair of the foundation, Friends of Saxonburg Museum will initiate a significant fundraising campaign to help pay for that, too.
