Early work commencing on moving Brooklyn Bridge replica
SAXONBURG — Scouts got a look at the replica of the Brooklyn Bridge Saturday, March 21, which sits in Roebling Park as a monument to John Roebling, who invented the wire rope that helped make the real Brooklyn Bridge functional when it was built.
The Scouts got a lesson on the significance of Roebling’s invention and learned the history of the bridge in the midst of a project Saxonburg officials are working on to relocate the replica to the other side of the Saxonburg Museum. It was a good opportunity for the group of Scouts to earn their engineering merit badge, which Ray Tennant, Scout executive for Moraine Trails Council, said is an achievement tailored toward career education as much as it is about actual engineering.
“Every merit badge has a career aspect to it,” Tennant said Saturday. “We’ve evolved the program to adapt to kids’ needs in the world today.”
The bridge is being moved because modern safety codes do not allow for the structure to be attached to two existing structures, which the replica is violating because it is attached to the wire rope workshop and a park pavilion. The borough is collaborating with the Save the Bridge Project to move the bridge brick by brick, a process that got its start Saturday when Saxonburg’s borough manager, Steven May, started chiseling.
“We’re going to start taking it down around April 25 and moving it, but we won’t start rebuilding it right away,” said Brooke Wamsley, who heads Save the Bridge. “We have to get it unattached so we need to put some pillars in to hold it up. The goal is to have it rebuilt by the end of fall.”
According to Wamsley, money from donations will be used on building materials and volunteers will be sought for the moving process.
May said that in addition to moving the bridge replica, the borough is still raising money to repair the foundation of the wire rope workshop, which has been sinking into the ground for at least a decade. The borough has secured a $150,000 Local Share Account grant and is raising money through other sources to cover the rest of the project, which May estimated to cost between $225,000 to $315,000.
Aaron Piper, vice president of Saxonburg Borough Council, said the project is important because the wire rope workshop is one of the only buildings of its kind remaining in the area. It is made with white clay, which May said cannot be found in the area anymore, and the workshop is where John Roebling invented wire rope, making it a significant artifact for locals and visitors.
“We are not going to let history fall away on our watch,” Piper said. “Everyone recognizes the historical significance where we can walk into a living piece of history right here in Saxonburg.”
Wamsley asked that any monetary donations by check be made payable to “Save the Bridge,” P.O. Box 149, Saxonburg, PA, 16056. Additionally, there is a Facebook page for the project that includes information about the move and the bridge replica’s history.
