One World Trade Center, once known as The Freedom Tower

Site of the 9/11 Memorial Museum

Oct 2015, Photo 67

9/11 Memorial Museum

The National September 11 Memorial & Museum (known separately as the 9/11 Memorial and 9/11 Memorial Museum) are the principal memorial and museum, respectively, commemorating the September 11 attacks of 2001 (which killed 2,507 civilians, 72 law enforcement officers, 343 firefighters, and 55 military personnel) and the World Trade Center bombing of 1993 (which killed six civilians). The memorial is located at the World Trade Center site, the former location of the Twin Towers, which were destroyed during the September 11 attacks. It is operated by a non-profit corporation whose mission is to raise funds for, program, own, and operate the memorial and museum at the World Trade Center site.

Oct 2015, Photo 64

9/11 Museum

Oct 2015, Photo 65

9/11 Museum

North memorial pool

Oct 2015, Photo 66

9/11 Museum

Part of the World Trade Center’s original foundation, this wall was built to keep the Hudson River from flooding the site by creating a bathtub-like enclosure of reinforced cement. At the time of the slurry wall’s construction, the engineering employed to create it was considered an innovative method for building sturdy reinforced concrete walls at sites close to water.

Oct 2015, Photo 68

9/11 Museum

As the recovery at the World Trade Center site neared completion, the Last Column, a 58-ton, 36-foot-tall piece of welded plate steel, was removed from the site in a solemn ceremony on May 30, 2002. In the weeks that followed, recovery workers, first responders, volunteers and victims’ relatives signed the column and affixed to it memorial messages, photographs, and other tributes.

Oct 2015, Photo 69

9/11 Museum

Oct 2015, Photo 70

9/11 Museum

A section of steel facade from the North Tower, floors 96 to 99, stands at the National September 11 Memorial Museum.

Oct 2015, Photo 71

9/11 Museum

Steel columns, known as box columns for their rectangular shape and hollow center, provided structural support for the Twin Towers and created their distinctive facades. At the end of the recovery period following 9/11, what remained of these columns was cut to a level elevation, leaving the remnants visible here. The North Tower footprint was outlined by 84 columns, but the South Tower footprint had only 73 columns, since preexisting train tracks passed across its footprint.

Oct 2015, Photo 74

9/11 Museum

Assigned to aid in the evacuation of civilians in the North Tower on 9/11, members of FDNY Ladder Company 3 are known to have reached the 35th floor by 9:21 a.m. All 11 responding members of Ladder Company 3 were killed inside the North Tower when it collapsed at 10:28 a.m. The front cab of this fire truck was shorn off when the North Tower collapsed. The bumper and a door were later removed and displayed as a memorial in Ladder Company 3’s quarters on East 13th Street in Manhattan.

Oct 2015, Photo 75

9/11 Museum

Oct 2015, Photo 76