As a history buff I have enjoyed reading the America 250 series of articles. As an “old newsman,” I know that a guiding principle is to always “look for the local angle or connection.”

The America 250 December 2025 issue includes a detailed, almost 900-word article on the Pittsburgh fire of 1845 by Butler Eagle Correspondent Jamie Kelly.

The article “Great Fire of 1845 reshaped Pittsburgh” did not mention the Butler County connection. Specifically, a connection to Saxonburg and its co-founder and innovative engineer and bridge builder John Augustus Roebling.

What is the local connection? Well, the covered wooden Monongahela Bridge built in 1818 as the first river crossing bridge in Pittsburgh was destroyed in the Great Fire of 1845.

According to the May 3, 2020, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Saxonburg’s co-founder, John Roebling “bid at cost to replace the Monongahela Bridge, using the opportunity to demonstrate his then-fledgling wire-rope suspension design.”

The July 17, 1983, edition of the Pittsburgh Press reported that Roebling's contract price was $55,000. Construction of Roebling’s suspension bridge over the Monongahela began in June of 1845, and the new bridge opened Feb. 13, 1846.

It is written that “the bridge was completed during the winter, in record time, with a crew of faithful Saxonburg workers.”

A historical marker noting Roebling’s accomplishment stands near the Smithfield Street Bridge.

It states: “Here in 1846, Roebling built the first wire rope suspension bridge to carry a highway over the Monongahela River.”

J. Fred Caesar, Saxonburg, former curator of the Saxonburg Museum