Saxonburg: It’s a small town with a big heart

The roots of Saxonburg’s family trees go back a long time.

That’s according to Fred Caesar, 68, the passionate volunteer curator of the Saxonburg Museum. Mr. Caesar doesn’t claim to know everything about the borough, but if he did, no one would argue.

Most of the first settlers in the 1830s — including founder John A. Roebling, an engineer who would go on to design the Brooklyn Bridge — were German immigrants (Prussian, to be specific). Mr. Caesar said some of the original Saxonburgers left, but many stayed or came back, sometimes decades after leaving. That’s still true today, and the reason is a little intangible.

“It might sound hokey,” Mr. Caesar said, “but there’s a spirit to this town.”

Located in southern Butler County, about 30 miles north of Pittsburgh, Saxonburg is a

community where a shared sense of pride and history intersect.

Changes are inevitable, and Saxonburg has not escaped them entirely. But the spirit Mr. Caesar talked about is echoed throughout the town, down to the street lamps — modeled after old gas-burning models — and the historical plaques on almost every building along West Main Street.

Michael S. Lazaroff, an Air Force veteran and attorney born in Saxonburg, is one of the residents who left and returned. Mr. Lazaroff, 61, spent decades away, including 20 years in the military, traveling the globe. He found his way back in 2014, when a local lawyer retired and asked him to take over her practice.

“It was hard to say no,” Mr. Lazaroff said. “It’s nice to work in the town you grew up in. It’s so much nicer than being a cog in a big machine at a corporate law firm.”

He, like many, appreciates the history around him. Mr. Lazaroff proudly owns what is thought to be the first radio receiver in Saxonburg, built around the time KDKA installed its tower just outside town.

“If you hooked it up right now, you could get it to work,” Mr. Lazaroff said.

However, as the borough council members know, history is sometimes harder to maintain than an old receiver. The council drew criticism after voting July 11 to sell a one-acre lot of tree-covered land along Aderhold Road. Residents worry that any potential buyer will cut down the trees, destroying some of the history of their town.

“Those trees are hundreds of years old,” said Aaron Piper, 38, who lives a few doors down from the land. “Once they’re gone, they’re gone.”

When the land was sold to the borough for residential development, then-owner George Aderhold reportedly wanted that tree-covered plot to be kept as green space.

Councilman Scott Herbst, 47, said the borough wants to sell the lot because it is overgrown and littered with trash, some of which could harm the residents and their children.

Mr. Herbst said money from the sale would be used by the borough to pay for public projects, such as improvements to Roebling Park, which houses the Saxonburg Museum and Cooper Hall, a rentable event space.

Such projects are not easily paid for with tax money alone. Taxes are a point of tension for the borough, which has less than 1,500 residents. That’s partly because more than one-third of the borough’s residents are over age 65, far higher than is the case in most municipalities. Most of those older people are retired and do not pay wage taxes.

Borough manager Mary Papik said Saxonburg therefore is more dependent on property taxes to foot the bill for roads, water projects and the police department. That makes it difficult to maintain the town’s infrastructure and public safety services, much of which are used by residents of the neighboring communities.

“We’re a big community with a tiny tax base,” Mayor Bill Gillespie, 70, said of the 0.89-square-mile borough. But he sees that wider community as part of what makes Saxonburg special.

Events like Mingle on Main and the Saxonburg Volunteer Fire Company Carnival attract thousands of people to the town every year, putting Saxonburg in the spotlight.

The popular Mingle is held once a month from May to September. On July 12, the event saw West Main Street shut down for several blocks as vendors set up tents along the sidewalks, selling homemade food, art, jewelry, soap, clothes and more. A farmer’s market and food trucks drew crowds of people.

It’s possible that Mingle turnout could grow in future years. More people are moving into the area, according to real estate agents Joyce and Jack Hutterer. The married duo said they sell about 100 homes a year in Saxonburg and the neighboring communities.

Ms. Hutterer said many older people move into the assisted living and retirement communities around Saxonburg every year, but younger people move to the area to raise families and grow roots. Once planted, the Hutterers said, they don’t tend to move.

“It’s quiet,” Mr. Hutterer said of the safety of the town. “We raised five kids here.”

Police Chief Joe Beachem said the three or four daily calls his department receives are usually for minor crimes.

One thing that is strikingly absent from Saxonburg? Heroin. The chief said the town has only had one overdose death in two years, an outlier in a county that recorded 232 heroin deaths last year.

“We’re lucky,” Chief Beachem said.

He has prior experience elsewhere with drug-ridden areas, and he knows what to look for. But on top of his policing efforts, he said, the community environment helps keep drugs off the streets. Joyce Hutterer agrees. “You can’t get away with anything here,” she said, laughing. “Everyone knows what you’re doing. They’ll tell your parents.”

That neighborly spirit has extended through Saxonburg in much the same way that generations of families have, growing deep roots and passing along community traditions. And even though things are changing, the heart of Saxonburg remains.

“There’s a level of predictability here,” Scott Herbst said. “At its core, it’s kind of the same.”