Saxonburg

Saxonburg is a borough in Butler County. It was settled in 1832 by brothers Friedrich Carl Roebling and John Augustus Roebling as “Germania” and later as “Sachsenburg” and incorporated in 1846 as “Saxonburg.”

Saxonburg is the site of a well-known mineral springs discovered near the Rudert Farm in 1903. Paul Rudert built the three-story, 100-room Hotel Tredur on these springs in 1904.  The hotel was situated on 42 acres near an active mineral springs. An Oakland businessman named Morris Tafel acquired the Hotel Tredur in early 1922 and reopened the facility as Saxonburg Mineral Springs Hotel, billing it as “the only kosher resort of its kind in the state.” Tafel appears to have sold the hotel before the end of the year. He acquired the Greenview Inn in Conneaut Lake, Pa. in 1927 and reopened that facility as a Jewish hotel. Tafel is credited with purchasing the property for the first B’nai Abraham synagogue on Fifth Avenue in the Lyndora section of Butler.

The Saxonburg Mineral Springs Hotel in the early 1930s under the proprietorship of a Mr. Mendel, who also marketed to Jewish clientele. The hotel was damaged in a fire in 1961 and ultimately destroyed by a second fire in 1974. The foundation survived both fires and was later used to support the current structure. The property is currently being used by Mineral Springs Cycle.

Bibliography

South Butler Community Library

• Saxonburg history scrapbook (online).

Jackson Township Historical Preservation (Facebook Group)

• Hotel Tredur in the community of Saxonburg, Butler County in 1910 (online).

Exhibit history

• Author: Eric Lidji
• Original: September 14, 2025
• Current: September 14, 2025

Acknowledgements

• This entry was created through a Jewish Community Priorities grant from the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh.