On Monday, the city of Hoboken unveiled its new memorial for the city’s victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks at its annual interfaith service ceremony. The unveiling comes 16 years after one of the most eventful and tragic days in the city’s history, a day on which 56 of its residents perished.
In Aug. 2011, the city of Hoboken was awarded a grant from the Department of Community Affairs for the construction of a Sept. 11 memorial. The city, along with the special September 11th Memorial Committee composed of Hoboken residents, developed the memorial’s design and chose Pier A as the location. After several years of delays due to disagreements regarding design and budget, the memorial was finally unveiled on Monday to those attending the city’s annual interfaith memorial service, during which members of the community from all faiths were encouraged to come pray for the victims of the attacks. The annual ceremony consisted of prayer, reflection, and a reading of the names of all victims who had resided in Hoboken.
The memorial, oriented in the direction of Ground Zero and parallel to the grove of trees already planted at Pier A, features a steel beam base and a rectangular glass panel for each of the 56 Hoboken residents who lost their lives during the attacks. The panels, composed of highly durable glass, are capable of withstanding extreme weather events such as hurricanes and flooding. Each panel is engraved with the name of one of the 56 victims along with their birth year and has an adjacent evergreen tree. The perimeter of the memorial features steel plates engraved with quotes from family members and loved ones of the victims. The memorial also features upwards-facing lights on its base such that each of the glass panels can be illuminated at night.
Sept. 11, 2001, was no doubt an extremely agonizing and tragic day for the entire country, but perhaps this is especially true for the Stevens community which watched the two towers collapse from across the Hudson River. What some may not realize is that there were several Stevens students in Manhattan that day working on various co-op assignments. Fortunately, no Stevens students lost their lives due to the attacks.
“I’m really proud and we have been working really hard to ensure we have a beautiful peaceful memorial for the people of Hoboken,” said Mayor Dawn Zimmer to The Hudson Reporter last week. The memorial is part of Pier A’s open layout and can be visited at any time.
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