Twenty-five years ago, residents of the Rockaways gathered at an empty lot to watch the devastation in Lower Manhattan unfold.

That lot, now called Tribute Park, is where an estimated 300 people gathered Friday to remember those lost.

The names of the victims from the Rockaways were read aloud — 73 people, according to event organizers, including 28 firefighters.

Longtime resident Jim Lang lost two family members on Sept. 11. His sister, Rosanne Lang, was in the North Tower, and his nephew, Brendan Lang, in the South Tower.

“It’s 25 years, and it’s pain. It’s still real. It never goes away,” he said. “I got a call from my brother, Gerard, and he said Rosanne is in the North Tower, and I said, ‘What floor?’ And he told me what floor she was on, and I said she’s gone because the plane went right through Cantor Fitzgerald.”

“My nephew had run into the South Tower to get his workers out. They were doing a project in the South Tower, and he was killed. The plane hit below him. He went upstairs, and we never found either of them,” Lang added.

Brian Davan is now a Battalion Chief with the FDNY. He says that when he got to Lower Manhattan on that day, the Twin Towers had already collapsed.

“It was like walking on the face of the moon,” he said. “It was devastating and overwhelming. It’s tough even now, 25 years later, to come to grips with that,” Davan said. “Sometimes it feels like it’s 100 years ago, sometimes it feels like it was yesterday.”

Davan’s father-in-law, FDNY First Deputy Commissioner William Feehan, died on that day as he was directing operations.

“Even though he probably knew the South Tower was going to come down, there was work to be done, and he stayed there, and he showed great courage, and I’m so proud of him. I’m so proud of the New York City Fire Department, and we miss him each day,” Davan said.

As they do every year, family members came to lay roses in honor of their loved ones.

“We lost our nephew, Charlie Heeran. It was devastating, and it’s been a long 25 years, and in that 25 years, his siblings have gotten married, had children. And their cousins have gotten married, had children, and we keep up the tradition of letting them know all about 9/11,” Anne Hurley said.

A sense of community, some residents say, was born from the devastation.

“This country was never so close as it was on 9/12, ever. And that’s a sad thing to see because this neighborhood stayed together, but you hear so much divisiveness now — 9/11 should be bringing us together,” Lang said.