Borough Manager Steve May told TribLive that Saxonburg had nearly run out of options for one ingredient. Then a farmer walked in one day and offered the very material the project needed. The material was white clay. It goes into the plaster for John Roebling's wire rope workshop, the small building in Roebling Park on Rebecca Street that has been sitting on temporary steel beams this fall.
Most coverage of the restoration has been about money: the grants, the donations, the bids. Saxonburg has now raised enough to pay for the work. What is left is a project that has to be built the way Roebling built it, from materials the town spent most of two centuries using up, with a contingency fund that could cover one modest change order.
Why a farmer's clay mattered
TribLive reported that Roebling built the workshop in 1838 and worked there twisting seven-strand iron wire cables by hand. The borough's PennBid project description dates the building's construction to the 1840s instead, so the exact year depends on which source you read. That work led to the cable technology behind the Brooklyn Bridge and his other suspension bridges. To keep the building historically accurate, Grossman Construction has to make plaster from straw, horsehair and white clay, the same way it was done in the 1800s.
The hard part was finding the clay. May described the problem to TribLive in plain terms:
"Back in the day, you could find tons of white clay, we built the entire town with this stuff, and now it seems like we've used it all up."
He also told the outlet that historical accuracy is "everything to a project like this," and that the material had to be something Roebling would have had in the 1830s. The foundation follows the same rule. May said "good old-fashioned wood" will be used to rebuild it.
Working to that standard takes a contractor with experience on historic buildings, and that weighed in the borough's choice along with price.
What the bid documents actually ask for
The borough's PennBid solicitation spells out the scope. The work has to meet historic preservation standards and covers:
- Stabilizing the stone and timber framing
- Repairing or replacing the roof and siding in kind, meaning with matching materials
- Masonry repairs and repointing
- Foundation and drainage improvements
- Updated electrical and safety systems
The foundation and drainage items address what the building has been doing for years. It has been sinking into the ground since at least 2017, according to the Butler Eagle. As TribLive described it, the floor was sinking and the walls were tilting off a crumbling foundation. When crews arrived in September, the first step was lifting the whole structure onto steel beams so the new foundation could go in underneath.
The price came in above the estimate
In April, the Butler Eagle reported that repairs were estimated at $250,000 to $300,000. At that point the borough had nearly $250,000 on hand. The first solicitation on PennBid is labeled "Reject and Rebid" and marked canceled. The replacement round closed July 17, and the contract was awarded July 21.
All three bids in the awarded round came in above the top of the April estimate:
| Bidder | Bid | Above the $300,000 high estimate |
|---|---|---|
| Grossman Construction, Slippery Rock | $314,150 | $14,150 |
| Arch Masonry & Restoration | $318,500 | $18,500 |
| Etzel Engineer & Build, Saxonburg | $335,717 | $35,717 |
Grossman had the lowest bid. According to the Butler Eagle's award report, the borough also chose the firm for its record on historic structures, including new roofing on the Old Stone House in Slippery Rock and work on the Alumni House at Slippery Rock University. May told the paper it was "an absolute relief to have a well-known contractor engaged in the project that has had significant historical structures renovated within Butler County."
Then there is the margin. The borough estimated about $325,000 in total grants and donations. Set against the $314,150 contract, that leaves roughly $10,000. May put it plainly to the Butler Eagle in July: "We have enough left for a $10,000 change order. Let's hope it doesn't come to that." On a job that has to source 1830s materials and rebuild a foundation under a building that has been settling for years, $10,000 is not much room.
How the money came together
The $325,000 is the result of several years of fundraising. The Friends of the Saxonburg Museum and volunteer curator Fred Caesar led the early effort, which included a GoFundMe campaign. In August 2023 the museum reported about $25,000 in repair donations, and more than $50,000 raised once money for an engineering study was counted.
The larger grants arrived over the past year:
- $150,000 Local Share Account grant, awarded in December 2025. These funds come from statewide gaming revenue.
- $95,000 in community donations, as of the borough's April 2026 count.
- $75,000 from the Allegheny Foundation, reported in June 2026.
- $1,000 from Experience Butler County, which was in the restoration fund by June 2026. In spring the borough and the Friends of the Saxonburg Museum had applied to the tourism grant program for $7,500 to put toward engineering and architectural fees.
The April Butler Eagle report noted that the building had been structurally unsound for more than a decade before the bid went out. That timeline shows how long it took the town to raise a restoration budget, and how much of it came from community donations and volunteer effort rather than one large check.
What happens on Rebecca Street between now and December
Grossman crews were making structural repairs on Monday, Sept. 14. According to TribLive's Oct. 2 report, the contractor's goal is to have everything finished by December. That is a goal, not a fixed date. No specific completion day has been announced.
The borough has plans for after the work is done. Mayor Dave Johnston told TribLive that "once construction is complete, we will put a replica of the Brooklyn Bridge beside it to show the progression of what Roebling was truly able to accomplish in that little workshop." He also said he hopes young residents and students will be able to tour the museum and the workshop. Borough officials plan a celebratory unveiling once the project is complete. The bid documents describe the same goal: a building safe for public access that can serve as an interpretive and educational space for school programs and community events. No opening schedule or exhibit plan has been published yet.
If you plan to visit the Saxonburg Museum next door this winter, check ahead first. The borough's museum page says the museum closes for the winter and is currently open only for tours scheduled in advance by email. Until the unveiling, the steel beams, fresh foundation work and new plaster are visible from Rebecca Street.
May told TribLive the project "will help preserve the historic integrity of the town for the next 150 years." For now, finishing it depends on the contractor's December goal holding and on the roughly $10,000 contingency covering whatever turns up under a building that has been settling since at least 2017.
Many of the homes around Saxonburg come with long histories of their own, and Jennie Spohn-Rousseau follows those stories as closely as the market. If you own an older home near Main Street and want to know how its age and materials might matter when you sell or update it, Jennie Spohn is glad to talk it through. Let's Connect.
