As the country prepares to mark 25 years since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Erie has a significant piece of that history \u2014 a World Trade Center column that now stands outside the East End of Blasco Memorial Library.<\/p>\n
The massive steel column was recovered from the rubble of the World Trade Center and brought to Erie through an effort led by former Erie City Councilman Mark Aleksandrowicz.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Aleksandrowicz began working to bring a piece of the World Trade Center to Erie about 15 years ago.<\/p>\n
\u201cI guess September 11th is probably the most defining point in our life \u2014 in our generation,\u201d Aleksandrowicz said.<\/p>\n
After writing letters and making phone calls, Aleksandrowicz’s persistence paid off. He was invited to Hangar 17 at John F. Kennedy International Airport to pick up the steel column, which had been specifically tagged for Erie.<\/p>\n
The column stands about 18 feet tall and weighs approximately 9,000 pounds.<\/p>\n
Birk\u00admire Trucking volunteered a truck and its time to transport the artifact to Erie, while Erie Insurance covered the cost of insuring the trip.<\/p>\n
When the column arrived in Erie, a crowd gathered in Perry Square to welcome it to the city.<\/p>\n
Today, it serves as a permanent tribute to the nearly 3,000 people, including first responders, who were killed in the September 11 attacks.<\/p>\n
The memorial also provides an opportunity for people to learn more about what happened that day.<\/p>\n
Educational panels surround the column outside the library. Inside, tucked beneath the back side of a staircase, is an oral history featuring the experiences of five people.<\/p>\n
Aleksandrowicz hopes the 25th anniversary will inspire people to remember the victims and consider ways to honor their legacy.<\/p>\n
\u201cProbably to pay it forward would be something to think about,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Aleksandrowicz will join Lisa Adams this weekend on The Insider, along with Tim Wachter, who served as an aide to then-Gov. Tom Ridge at the time of the attacks.<\/p>\n
This year’s Erie County September 11th Memorial Ceremony will be held at the Erie Maritime Museum, next to Blasco Library.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As the country prepares to mark 25 years since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Erie has a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":277731,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[115842,116333,78364,136,138,137,13068,116332,8589,102647,7184,58222],"class_list":["post-277730","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-erie","tag-9-11","tag-artifact","tag-blasco-memorial-library","tag-erie","tag-erie-headlines","tag-erie-news","tag-first-responders","tag-mark-aleksandrowicz","tag-memorial","tag-september-11","tag-tribute","tag-world-trade-center"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277730","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=277730"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277730\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/277731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=277730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=277730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=277730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}