Work begins to dismantle Brooklyn Bridge replica
SAXONBURG — The replica of the Brooklyn Bridge in Roebling Park is being taken down, but its dismantling is itself a bridge to another project getting underway.
Saxonburg is moving its wire rope workshop, where John Roebling invented the wire rope that made the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge possible. The bridge replica needs to be moved first because it is attached to the building. On Wednesday, April 8, workers with CID Buildings began chiseling away at the concrete and mortar holding up the aluminum floor and rubber cables which comprise the model.
Steven May, Saxonburg’s borough manager, said CID Buildings is donating time and resources to the bridge project, which is allowing the borough to bid out the relocation of the wire rope workshop. Borough Council may vote to release proposals for the relocation project as early as later this month, according to May.
The wire rope workshop is sitting on shaky foundation and is sinking into the ground, making it a priority for the borough to get it to a better location in Roebling Park. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, so the request for bids will be lengthy, May said.
“We need someone who can handle a historic building,” he said about the 185-year-old workshop on Wednesday.
May also estimated that the bridge would be completely taken down by the end of the day Thursday. The parts of the replica are planned to be labeled and placed into storage. There is a chance it will also be relocated, thanks to a local fundraising effort that is in the works.
Brooke Wamsley, who grew up in the area, learned that 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. After learning that the borough had plans to dismantle it, she started a fundraiser — Save the Bridge — Roebling Park — to raise money to rebuild it in another corner of Roebling Park after it is dismantled.
Save the Bridge has a goal to raise $50,000, although the exact cost to relocate the bridge is not known.
Wamsley said she thought there would be more time before the bridge was taken down, but her efforts to raise money to reconstruct it will continue. May said he would like to see the fundraising done by the spring of 2027, but Wamsley said the borough has not given her a deadline to get the money.
“This has been a constant uphill battle,” she said. “I was not expecting it to have to come down so soon but it is what it is.
“I will continue to advocate for this project in honor of my grandfather who built it.”
The borough has secured a $150,000 Local Share Account grant. It also is raising money through other sources to cover the workshop relocation project, which May estimated to cost between $225,000 and $315,000.
Although the main project is the wire rope workshop, the bridge replica is a claim to fame for Saxonburg. It brings people to the park to view the model of a technical marvel.
“It’s like the largest ball of twine,” May said of the bridge replica. “You wouldn’t believe how many people come just to see this. If you Google Saxonburg, a picture of this comes up.”
And despite a long day of chiseling and manual labor, even the CID Buildings workers had their interests piqued by the project.
“It’s an honor and a privilege to be part of something historical on a monument like this,” said Erik Poorman, one of the CID Buildings workers who helped take the bridge down Wednesday.
To donate to the Save the Bridge project, checks can 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.
