Help sought in moving Saxonburg’s replica bridge
SAXONBURG — With the borough on the verge of beginning a structural restoration project on the historic wire rope workshop at Roebling Park, there still remains the matter of what to do with the miniature Brooklyn Bridge replica attached to it.
At a Saxonburg Borough Council meeting on Tuesday night, March 17, Brooke Wamsley — director of the Saxonburg Museum’s Save the Bridge Project — announced plans are underway to move the bridge replica, brick by brick, to a new location closer to the museum and away from the workshop.
To make the move happen smoothly, Wamsley is asking for support from the community — whether it be through manpower, donating supplies or simply chipping in a few bucks.
“If everyone could just donate $20, it would make a huge difference,” Wamsley said.
According to Wamsley, money from donations will be used on building materials and volunteers will be sought for the moving process.
“The one thing that we really need are bodies and people to help to offset the cost of labor,” Wamsley said during Tuesday night’s meeting. “If any of you would like to come and help, that’d be awesome.”
In addition to dismantling and reassembling the bridge at a new location, the move will also require the construction of two new support pillars at each end to replace the two structures which previously supported the mini-bridge — the workshop and a park pavilion. The project will also involve the replacement of the bridge deck.
“We will need additional stone ... so if anyone can help us find a graded material for drainage purposes, that’s what we want to replace the deck with,” Wamsley said.
As a finishing touch, the museum is planning to add a new plaque to the bridge to mark the relocation, while also keeping its original plaque in place. The current plaque gives a year of “A.D. 2001,” the year the bridge was moved to the workshop site.
The Save the Bridge project is a personal mission for Wamsley, as her grandfather, Ralph Henderson, was one of the four men who built the bridge replica as a float for Butler County’s bicentennial parade in 2000.
“It was my grandfather and his friends who were the ones to put it in,” Wamsley said. “That’s why it’s very personal to me that it be saved.”
In addition to needing to be moved, the bridge has been noted as in need of structural repair for several years. Wamsley said she isn’t sure what will happen when work begins on dismantling the bridge structure, especially since all four of the people who originally built it have died.
“We really have no idea what we’re getting into until it starts coming down,” Wamsley said. “Things might break or need fixed and we currently don’t know if the bridge itself is one big piece or if it’s three pieces.”
Wamsley said she hopes for work on the move to start by the end of April. She asked that any monetary donations by check be made payable to “Save the Bridge,” P.O. Box 149, Saxonburg, PA, 16056.
As for the wire rope workshop itself, council tabled a motion to advertise the bid for the building’s structural restoration during Tuesday night’s meeting.
According to borough manager Steven May, this is so the borough has enough time to secure every cent of necessary funding for the restoration project without resorting to using taxpayer funding.
So far, the borough has secured a $150,000 Local Share Account grant, along with — according to May — an additional $94,500 in donations. The borough is still seeking additional grants and during Tuesday night’s meeting council voted to apply for a $7,500 Experience Butler County tourism grant.
May estimated the restoration of the historic wire rope workshop, which has been sinking slowly into the ground for at least a decade, will cost around $300,000.
“All of the working pieces for the financial aspect of this project will not be in place until (the month of) May,” May said. “It would be hard for you guys (borough council) to approve a bid when you don’t have the finances in place.”
