This article was originally published Sept. 14, 2021.
After Sept. 11, 2001, thousands of rusted pieces of twisted steel from the Twin Towers, damaged emergency vehicles, signs, clothing and other relics were disseminated to all 50 states and to the far reaches of the world. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey began a program to distribute them to more than 2,000 fire and police departments, museums, municipalities and organizations to remember the nearly 3,000 people who died that day.
There are 154 artifact pieces in New Jersey towns, 82 in Pennsylvania. In the weeks leading up to Sept. 11 this year, we visited some of those towns and spoke with the people who live there.
Shanksville, Pa.
A cross made of World Trade Center steel is mounted outside the Shanksville Volunteer Fire Company. They were the first firefighters to respond when United Flight 93 crashed nearby,Tom Gralish / Staff PhotographerDan Wolf is redoing his grandfather’s cabin on Indian Lake, where debris from Flight 93 washed up. He hopes it becomes a place for his brothers to gather following the deaths of their parents a few years ago.TOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
Lehigh Valley International Airport
“Victorii Rebuild” in Bethlehem was carved by Florida artist Sandra Priest from a 4-foot-thick piece of the underground wall that still protects the foundation of the World Trade Center site from Hudson River groundwater seepage. The wall survived the attacks on 9/11, and pieces of it were removed later to make room for the new PATH station that now sits beneath the rebuilt center.Tom Gralish / Staff PhotographerTSA worker Hector Rivera Jr., 47, screens passengers departing Lehigh Valley International Airport. He worked for a security contractor there, then joined the Transportation Security Administration when it was founded after 9/11.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
Haddon Township, N.J.
The township’s memorial is made of three parts: Steel from the World Trade Center, limestone from the Pentagon and a stone from Shanksville.Tom Gralish / Staff PhotographerEmily Stout works in her real estate storefront office a block away from the memorial at Westmont Fire Company No. 1.TOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
Absecon, N.J.
Granite reproductions of the Twin Towers in Absecon’s Heritage Park showcase a 16-foot I-beam from the 39th floor of the South Tower as well as memorial markers for the victims in Shanksville and at the Pentagon.Tom Gralish / Staff PhotographerAmjad Rehman, of nearby Galloway Township, goes out to dinner with his wife, Neelamm, and sons, Ali and Sammad. Rehman moved to New Jersey from Pakistan as a child. Ali, 30, was in fifth grade on 9/11 and suffered anti-Muslim taunting from classmates.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
Mantua, N.J.
A 3-foot World Trade Center steel I-beam with a hole ripped through it in Chestnut Branch Park’s Place of Reflection in Mantua.Tom Gralish / Staff PhotographerA quarter-mile walk from the parking lot along a tree-lined path leads to the Place of Reflection, dedicated to three Gloucester County residents who lost their lives on 9/11.Tom Gralish / Staff PhotographerPastor Phil Moser at Fellowship Bible Church in nearby Mullica Hill. Ten years after 9/11, the church also served victims of Hurricane Sandy, and this month helped neighbors clean up after tornadoes ravaged their community.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
Coatesville, Pa.
One of the steel supports from the North Tower is displayed outside the National Iron & Steel Heritage Museum in Coatesville. Originally made at the Lukens Steel plant there for construction of the World Trade Center in 1966, it helped to support the first nine floors of the Twin Towers. A portion of these columns was the only structure left standing when the towers collapsed on 9/11.Tom Gralish / Staff PhotographerWaleah Britt, 39, pauses outside a salon after her daughter Janiyah got her back-to-school hair styled in downtown Coatesville, in Chester County.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
King of Prussia
Next to the King of Prussia Volunteer Fire Company Station 47, and across from the mall, the 9/11 memorial features two World Trade Center steel I-beams and design elements that represent all four doomed flights on 9/11.Tom Gralish / Staff PhotographerEngaged couple Shawn Harrison II and Kaitlyn Buckley before dinner at Morton’s at the King of Prussia Mall, across the street from the 9/11 memorial.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
Medford Lakes, N.J.
A pentagon-shaped concrete pedestal holds a granite monument topped with a piece of steel from the North Tower surrounded by a water feature in Leon E. Todd Memorial Park.Tom Gralish / Staff PhotographerDan Kiernan, 54, daughter Sydney, 16, and golden doodle Oskar.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
Atlantic City, N.J.
The Saracini-O’Neill 9/11 Memorial on the Boardwalk at Jackson Avenue, on the border of Atlantic City and Ventnor. The memorial is dedicated to Atlantic City natives Victor John Saracini and John P. O’Neill.Tom Gralish / Staff PhotographerTom Harris, walking with his wife, Carol, after dinner salutes the flag at the 9/11 Memorial. John P. O’Neill was head of security at the World Trade Center, who died while helping others to evacuate. Victor J. Saracini was the pilot of Flight 175 when it was hijacked and flown into the South Tower.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
Brooklawn, N.J.
The township’s 9/11 Memorial features a Pentagon-shaped base supporting a 9-foot-11 piece of World Trade Center steel. It is framed by two stone pedestals supporting artifacts from Shanksville and the Pentagon.Tom Gralish / Staff PhotographerMiles Jesuncosky outside his home in Brooklawn, N.J., which is around the corner from the memorial.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
Berwick, Pa.
Boy Scout Colin Hill built a memorial from steel remnants of the World Trade Center for his Eagle Scout project. Two 12-foot beams made from 350 pounds of twisted metal are outside Reliance Fire Company No. 1, in Berwick, Columbia County,Tom Gralish / Staff PhotographerHeather Schon shops at the Weis Markets grocery store in Bloomsburg, Pa., with her 2-year-old son, Blaise.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
Lower Makefield Township, Pa.
The official Pennsylvania memorial to the victims of 9/11 in Bucks County.TOM GRALISH / Staff PhotographerSteve Murphy practices volleyball with son Stevie, 11, in one of the fields at 62-acre Memorial Park in Lower Makefield Township.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer58 Pennsylvania were killed in the attacks. Among them were 18 from Bucks County and nine residents of Lower Makefield.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
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