YPSILANTI – Eastern Michigan University will establish a 9/11 memorial after receiving a 14-foot, 6,800-pound steel column that had been part of the World Trade Center during the terrorist attacks a decade ago.YPSILANTI – Eastern Michigan University will establish a 9/11 memorial after receiving a 14-foot, 6,800-pound steel column that had been part of the World Trade Center during the terrorist attacks a decade ago.
EMU President Susan Martin requested an artifact from the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey at some point several months ago and recently found out that the request was granted. EMU’s acquisition of the artifact ? first reported Friday by the Eastern Echo, EMU’s student newspaper ? comes about five weeks before the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks, Ann Arbor.Com reported.
EMU Physical Plant Chief of Operations John Donegan told AnnArbor.com today that the artifact, an H-column steel beam, is believed to have come from the 74th floor of the World Trade Center’s south tower. The remnants of 9/11 are still visible on the column, he said.
EMU retrieved the beam earlier this week from a hangar at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, where it was being housed with other remnants of the World Trade Center. Donegan said the beam was transported on a truck to Michigan.
Donegan said the column was a “wonderful gift to the university” and that donors are already expressing interest in contributing to the creation of the permanent memorial.
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