Every so often, someone goes to the employee parking lot at the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Department to quietly sit next to a rusty length of steel. There’s no sign saying what it is, but the metal was part of World Trade Center One—the tower that took the first hit of the September 11th attacks.
The I-beam is heavy, solid, and big. Laid on one side, it spans the width of two parking spaces. But its shape is like wax left out in the sun: warped in the middle, with edges that fold down softly. The bolts that stud one side droop in every direction. Deputy Greg Dotson gently touches the pitted metal.
“You can see the intense heat that caused this, and think about the people that were in that building that had to feel that same heat.”
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is giving away everything it could salvage from the World Trade Center site, with the stipulation that the artifacts be put on public display. So far, more than a thousand pieces have been distributed, some to places as far away as China, but most to first responder agencies in the US.
The I-beam will eventually be the centerpiece of a memorial plaza. But for now, Dotson says the focus is on pouring concrete in front of the Sheriff’s Department offices so the tangible reminder of 9/11 will at least be on display in time for the tenth anniversary.
On Air - 90.3 WPLN-FM