The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and the World Trade Center Memorial Fund have installed a new memorial at the World Trade Center campus ahead of the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks.
Located at Liberty Park, the Port Authority Employee Memorial honors agency employees killed in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and the September 11, 2001 attacks, as well as employees who became ill or died following their involvement in rescue and recovery operations.
The memorial stands near St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church and National Shrine and close to the Port Authority’s current headquarters at 4 World Trade Center.
Memorial Design Draws on the Original World Trade Center
The design incorporates elements connected to both the original World Trade Center and the Port Authority’s history at the site.
At its centre are two eight-foot-tall stainless steel representations of the Twin Towers. The design is based on a symbol created by a Port Authority employee at one of the agency’s sign shops during the rescue and recovery period following 9/11.
The front features a porcelain enamel-coated steel American flag, while the towers stand on a two-foot-high black granite base bearing the names of the 84 Port Authority employees killed on September 11, 2001.
A ring of rose granite surrounds the base and carries the names of Port Authority employees killed in the February 26, 1993 bombing.
That element was inspired by an earlier memorial on Austin J. Tobin Plaza between the Twin Towers, which commemorated victims of the 1993 bombing but was itself destroyed when the towers collapsed on September 11.
“This memorial is a fitting tribute and will provide loved ones and Port Authority colleagues a space of remembrance and reflection,” New York Governor Kathy Hochul said.
New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill said the memorial would help ensure that the employees’ sacrifice “is never forgotten and that future generations understand the profound gratitude we have for these heroes.”
84 Port Authority Employees Died on 9/11
The Port Authority suffered significant losses during the September 11 attacks.
A total of 84 agency employees died, including 37 members of the Port Authority Police Department.
Thirteen members of the World Trade Center’s civilian staff have also been recognised as first responders for their rescue work during the attacks, when their detailed knowledge of the complex was used to help others evacuate.
The new memorial also remembers employees killed during the earlier attack on the World Trade Center.
On February 26, 1993, a bomb was detonated in the underground parking garage beneath the complex. Six people and an unborn child were killed, including four Port Authority employees who were in the basement during their lunch breaks.
Port Authority Chairman Kevin O’Toole said the location at Liberty Park provides both current employees and victims’ families with a dedicated place to remember those who died.
“This year we mark 25 years since that terrible day in 2001, though we have been grieving since the first attack in 1993,” O’Toole said.
Memorial Also Recognizes Those Affected by 9/11-Related Illnesses
The memorial extends beyond those killed during the two attacks.
It also honors Port Authority employees who have become ill or died as a result of their involvement in the rescue and recovery work that followed September 11.
Those operations continued through May 30, 2002, exposing thousands of workers to conditions that have subsequently been linked to serious illnesses.
More than 144,000 rescue and recovery workers have enrolled in the World Trade Center Health Program, according to the Port Authority.
A separate memorial garden was dedicated at Liberty Park in 2021 to agency employees, first responders and rescue and recovery workers affected by the aftermath of the attacks.
WTC Memorial Fund Raised Money for the Monument
The new sculpture was commissioned by the nonprofit WTC Memorial Fund, an organisation largely made up of current and former Port Authority employees, retirees and other stakeholders.
The organisation raises money for college scholarships in memory of those killed on 9/11, provides financial assistance to charities and individuals and has worked to establish a permanent monument to Port Authority employees lost in the attacks.
Funding for the Liberty Park memorial came from individual donations and the organisation’s annual golf events, which began in September 2002.
“For those of us who worked at the World Trade Center and throughout the authority, it was more than a workplace — it was our home,” said WTC Memorial Fund President Paul Iannacone.
“We felt a deep responsibility to honor and never forget our friends, colleagues, and loved ones by creating a permanent memorial on the World Trade Center campus that they deserved.”
Port Authority Works to Preserve 9/11 Memory for New Generations
Twenty-five years after the attacks, the Port Authority is also facing a generational shift within its workforce.
Of approximately 8,000 current employees, around 400 were already working for the agency on September 11, 2001.
Around half of today’s workforce was of high-school age or younger at the time of the attacks, while roughly one-third was of middle-school age or younger.
The agency has introduced several programmes intended to preserve the connection between its current workforce and employees lost in 1993 and 2001.
Since 2016, the annual Pillars of the Port Authority award has recognised employees who demonstrate the integrity, resilience and commitment to public service associated with colleagues who died in the attacks.
The Port Authority also runs a month-long volunteer programme each September, established in 2008 and organised by its Leadership Fellows, a group of employees who join the agency after graduate school.
“As the anniversary years tick up, the number of our colleagues who survived both the 1993 and 2001 attacks are starting to dwindle, so we must work harder to keep those memories of our Port Authority family from fading with time,” Port Authority Executive Director Kathryn Garcia said.
The Port Authority said additional remembrance programmes are planned in the coming years.
