Photos: Brooklyn Bridge replica dismantled in Roebling Park
The small-scale replica of the Brooklyn Bridge in Saxonburg’s Roebling Park doesn’t resemble its model anymore.
The borough started working to dismantle the bridge brick-by-brick on Wednesday, April 8, in order to preserve the Roebling wire rope workshop. The bridge was attached to the building.
Saxonburg is moving the wire rope workshop because the foundation is failing and the building is collapsing in on it. It was built in the 1840s, is on the National Registry of Historic Places, and because of its status, the Brooklyn Bridge replica is not permitted to be attached to the structure.
While the borough is focused on moving the workshop and will put bids out on the relocation project soon, an independent group is funding the eventual reconstruction of the bridge model. Brooke Wamsley founded Save the Bridge – Roebling Park — to raise money to rebuild it in another corner of the park once the workshop is moved.
The location and the bridge recognize that the cables that help suspend the Brooklyn Bridge were made in Saxonburg and invented by John Roebling.
The structure will be placed in storage and potentially could be rebuilt on the other side of Roebling Park.
Saxonburg borough manager Steven May said the bridge replica is a draw for visitors, adding that “if you Google ‘Saxonburg,’ a picture of this comes up.”
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.
