John Roebling

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June 12, 1806 - July 22, 1869John A. Roebling was a German-born civil engineer who founded the town of Saxonburg with his older brother, F. Carl Roebling, in 1832.Roebling studied and trained in architecture, engineering, bridge construction and hydraulics as a young man in Erfurt, Germany.He worked a government job building military roads until he left Prussia with his brother in 1831. That year, Roebling and his brother, F. Carl, purchased 1,582 acres of land in Butler County with the intent to found a German farming settlement.The settlement was first named “Germania” and “Sachsenburg” before the name was localized to “Saxonburg.”In 1837, Roebling returned to his work as a civil engineer. He began producing wire rope in Saxonburg in 1841.In 1867, Roebling began design work on what would become the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City. His foot was injured by a ferry while standing at the dock, however.That injury would lead to the amputation of his toes and his eventual death 24 days later.His son, Washington Augustus Roebling, supervised the construction and completion of the Brooklyn Bridge following his father's death.

John Roebling perfected his wire twisting machinery designs at this workshop, which now sits in Roebling Park in Saxonburg.