DICKSON CITY, LACKAWANNA CO. (WOLF) \u2014 For people who walk into the Dickson City Borough Building to pay their taxes, attend a meeting or take care of borough business, a piece of American history is waiting inside.<\/p>\n
An authentic fragment of steel from the World Trade Center is on display in the building, serving as a reminder of the nearly 3,000 people killed in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.<\/p>\n
The steel is part of an I-beam recovered from Ground Zero following the collapse of the Twin Towers.<\/p>\n
For Mayor Robert MacCallum, the artifact also brings back his own memories of September 11. Like millions of Americans, MacCallum remembers where he was when the attacks happened and watching the events unfold.<\/p>\n
Now, he says having a piece of the World Trade Center in Dickson City gives residents an opportunity to stop and reflect.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s nice to see it when people come through walking in to pay a bill or to do something in the office building, they stop by, read the plaque and have a little reflection and just keep it fresh in everyone\u2019s minds,\u201d MacCallum said.<\/p>\n
The artifact\u2019s location is intentional. Rather than being tucked away in a museum or private collection, the steel is displayed in a public building where residents regularly pass it.<\/p>\n
Officials say that provides an opportunity for people who may not have a personal connection to September 11, particularly younger generations, to learn about what happened.<\/p>\n
The artifact also represents the resilience that followed the attacks.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt stands as a powerful reminder for the lives taken, the resilience of the American people and the unity in the days and months following those attacks,\u201d Council President Jeffrey Kovaleski said.<\/p>\n
Getting the piece of steel to Dickson City was not an overnight process.<\/p>\n
Officials say it took years of work and coordination before the borough was able to obtain the artifact and put it on display.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a big undertaking to try to get this here. It took a few years and it took many people in the community,\u201d MacCallum said.<\/p>\n
The steel has remained on display for about a decade, giving generations of residents a chance to see a physical piece of the site where so much of the nation\u2019s history was changed.<\/p>\n
As the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks approaches, borough officials say the goal is not simply to remember the events of that day, but to remember the people.<\/p>\n
Dickson City is also planning a public ceremony Friday to honor those who lost their lives, including a reading of the names of the victims.<\/p>\n
For those who lived through September 11, the memories remain vivid.<\/p>\n
\u201cI actually got woken up like everyone else, I watched the events unfold on the news and then our volunteer fire department got pressed into service,” said MacCullem. “The pagers went off. We had a couple fire alarms. I think there was some that coincided. It was weird-that morning there was even a bomb scare somewhere. I was just out answering fire calls in Dickson City.\u201d <\/p>\n
And for people walking into the borough building for an ordinary errand, the steel serves as a quiet reminder that some moments in history should never be forgotten.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DICKSON CITY, LACKAWANNA CO. (WOLF) \u2014 For people who walk into the Dickson City Borough Building to pay…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":281873,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[178,180,179],"class_list":["post-281872","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281872","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=281872"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281872\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/281873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=281872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=281872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=281872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}