Where Did All the 9/11 Steel Go?

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_Special Thanks_
Evan Montgomery - co-producer, filming, and editing
_Description_
This steel, once part of the Twin Towers, is now a memorial honoring the tragic events of 9/11. Standing over 22 feet tall and weighing 12.5 tons, it's just one of over 2,200 fragments distributed across the U.S. and the world. In this video, we explore the fascinating journey of the steel-its forensic value in investigating the collapse, its financial role in scrap markets, and its transformation into relics revered in memorials.
Learn how the steel from Ground Zero was meticulously tracked and distributed, from the wreckage of 200,000 tons to memorials worldwide. We'll trace the creation of the USS New York from this very steel and examine how pieces of the towers have been enshrined in local communities far from Manhattan. Yet, these fragments, less than 1% of the total steel recovered, carry immense symbolic weight, evoking memories of resilience, loss, and the complex narratives tied to 9/11.
If you're interested in how objects can become powerful symbols of history, this video will take you deep into the story of the World Trade Center’s steel-its history, its role in reconstruction, and its lasting significance in the global collective memory.
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_About the Channel_
Architecture with Stewart is a KZbin journey exploring architecture’s deep and enduring stories in all their bewildering glory. Weekly videos and occasional live events breakdown a wide range of topics related to the built environment in order to increase their general understanding and advocate their importance in shaping the world we inhabit.
_About Me_
Stewart Hicks is an architectural design educator that leads studios and lecture courses as an Associate Professor in the School of Architecture at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He also serves as an Associate Dean in the College of Architecture, Design, and the Arts and is the co-founder of the practice Design With Company. His work has earned awards such as the Architecture Record Design Vanguard Award or the Young Architect’s Forum Award and has been featured in exhibitions such as the Chicago Architecture Biennial and Design Miami, as well as at the V&A Museum and Tate Modern in London. His writings can be found in the co-authored book Misguided Tactics for Propriety Calibration, published with the Graham Foundation, as well as essays in MONU magazine, the AIA Journal Manifest, Log, bracket, and the guest-edited issue of MAS Context on the topic of character architecture.
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University of Illinois at Chicago School of Architecture: arch.uic.edu/
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Stock video and imagery provided by Getty Images, Storyblocks, and Shutterstock.
Music provided by Epidemic Sound
#architecture #urbandesign

[@CydeWeys]

You missed some of the story: Some tons of it were sent to NIST for structural analysis, which was written up in the NIST World Trade Center Disaster Investigation to determine the exact mechanisms by which the buildings' structure failed. By the time I was working at NIST they were pretty much done with the WTC steel and it was rusting away in a back parking lot outside the Building Research Building on the main NIST campus in Gaithersburg, MD. Not sure where it went after that, maybe off for scrap, but for some years a good heap of it was there at NIST being analyzed and then rusting away outside.

[@WYO_Dirtbag]

Alot of the scrap was sold and went off to China for melting down.

[@markmartindale7215]

NIST is complicit.

[@ILovePancakes24]

@markmartindale7215 with?

[@ArthurBrooklyn]

@@ILovePancakes24 I remember those days, my first gig. 7-11 was a part-time job.

[@RobespierreThePoof]

That was mentioned briefly at the start

[@ronanmc2112]

We have a piece here in Waterford City, Ireland. It’s is beside the historic Bishop’s Palace in the centre of the City. There is a long history of emigration from Waterford to New York to work in the fire and police departments and close ties over many generations because of this. We are proud to have it and it is now an important part of our ancient city.

[@adamwolf2376]

I've lived here for 9 years and had literally no clue we had steel from September 11th

[@gregpendrey6711]

I don't like Irish but that's cool. Thanks for sharing.

[@PopLadd]

@@gregpendrey6711 what's the point of telling us that lmao

[@theenzoferrari458]

Nobody cares about ur pathetic country. 'Merica!

[@theenzoferrari458]

​@@PopLaddbecause we don't like foreign countries that have our steel.

[@johnnymac6242]

A lot of the asbestos and dust was dumped and buried in a superfund site that was an old zinc factory outside Palmerton Pennsylvania. We locals only know because after a few days of nonstop dump trucks, some people finally followed it back to the source at the landfills in NYC.

[@cruisinguy6024]

I've always wondered how many millions of dollars attorneys made off of 9/11 just from the asbestos.

[@roni6135]

That’s crazy

[@FPS_NO]

So that area polluted

[@Larry26-f1w]

Any bodies ? 3000 were never recovered from Ground Zero

[@2degucitas]

​@@Larry26-f1wAll of the debris was carefully inspected for bodies, clothing, teeth, bones, prosthetics, jewelry, etc. It cant be helped that burned flesh would turn to ash and become dumped with the rest.

[@nmgg6928]

I can understand why some people feel the scattered smaller memorials take away from the museum and memorial in new york but I think ultimately its a good idea. The US is huge and many of us will never be able to go to new york to pay our respects but having smaller memorials around the country gives opportunity to go and have that moment. In the long run it also means that over time it will still be seen and remembered across our country not just in new york because however you want to view it good or bad or in between that day affected our entire world.

[@knpark2025]

We've been doing it for centuries. Europe's cathedrals had parts of venerated saints' remains entombed under their altars, and Buddhist temples have done the same with the cremated remains of revered monks. Demolished sections of the Berlin Wall with their 30+ years old graffitti preserved would sometimes go on a tour of foreign exhibitions for everyone to see and feel "peace is good" because of that. We always liked to have a spiritual connection through physical objects, be it religious or secular. If solid metal can bring mental solidarity, I would say that it makes a good case for distributing those metal pieces for more people to see. Heck, even I am not an American and when I see a tall octagonal vodca bottle with an Empire State Building from a supermarket I can't help but think "wow, this bottle looks like _that_ 1776-feet-tall skyscraper in Manhattan."

[@goodstick2126]

911, Never forget the inside job.

[@MChief118]

Thanks I was about to post this same thing but you said it perfectly. If the main message is to never forget if the only memorial is in NYC it would be easier to forget than many smaller memorials across the country and a big one in NYC.

[@jebj1]

@@MChief118I feel it takes away from the overall value of the main memorial in Nyc. Like the town I live in here in PA, they have a piece of the twin towers and a memorial site but don't lower their flag on 9/11. I was told "it's ancient history", "that's a Ny thing" and "we were busy"

[@Chaotic_Pixie]

It honestly makes sense for pieces to be in Ireland & Italy. Irish and Italian immigrants have a long history of serving for the FDNY and the NYPD. I can also understand towns, particularly throughout New England & the upper Eastern Seaboard who sent volunteers to help, in whatever way they could. I know there were so many personal watercraft and even some of our ferries that just started full-tilt towards NYC from Connecticut knowing people would need to get off the island. Small towns across North America that took in strangers when planes were grounded in some of the most obscure places. People have ties to what happened that day that you just wouldn’t expect.

[@goldcanyon340.]

Well said!

[@Larry26-f1w]

It honestly makes no sense… that 3000 bodies were never recovered!

[@andycortez9316]

​@@Larry26-f1wit's pretty hard to recover a full body that has been burnt to a crisp or mangled into slush by a 250,000 ton building. They did recover dna samples the nearly 3000 people but only 1650 samples were identified and the rest are unknown. If you want to be a conspiracy nut, at least get the story straight first.

[@dc6233]

Hasve you seen Dublin Ireland lately?? It's been destroyed by "asylum seekers". If they say one bad thing about them, the police show up at their door. All the unique cultures are being mixed, it's called the Kal-ergi plan.

[@lefantomer]

@@Larry26-f1w What, another "conspiracy theory"? Listen up, Larry. For one thing the death toll was just short of 3,000. For another, two 100+ story buildings collapsed into wreckage 7 stories high. Many of the victims were so pulverized that they had to be "identified" through bits of DNA. Now why don't you go back to mom's basement and come up with a new one?

[@WelshBathBoy]

I think the placing of the steal as memorials around the country reminds me of the 10s of 1000s of war memorials around the UK to commemorate the first world war, and subsequently the second world war. Each list the names of the primarily young men who lost their lives in the wars. Almost every city, town, village, hamlet, train station, church, chapel, university, will have a similar memorial listing those killed. Their locations are varied, some are in churches, some in parks, some at crossroads, some in train stations, some will be central to a town, some will just be on the side of the road, some hidden, but each marking the important event and the places link to it. 911 was a hugely traumatic event for all of the US, as the world wars were to every corner of the UK, so sharing the memorials around the country for me is very symbolic in how it effected every part of the country.

[@markmartindale7215]

Propaganda is really effective

[@ttopero]

Interesting difference: memorials in u.k. were for residents rather than for a structure as proxy for unrelated lives. This does feel more like propaganda even though it’s worth remembering

[@Chaotic_Pixie]

I’d be curious to know how many of the mini memorials are in places where volunteers just packed up & headed to NYC (it happened quite a bit… it happens for natural disasters too) or where the town lost someone who grew up there. There were thousands in the towers, hundreds between the planes… I’m honestly surprised more countries didn’t ask for pieces since we also know a decent percentage of those who died in the towers were immigrants or the grown children of immigrants.

[@Josh-yr7gd]

Well said. We must never forget. There's a whole new generation of adults who weren't even born when 9/11 happened. Some of them are my coworkers. They need to be able to see tangible reminders from that day. Not everyone will travel to NYC to experience the memorial, so having nearby locations where the event is memorialize, is very important.

[@gregpendrey6711]

I watched the towers come down on TV. Somehow I was up early. Saw it in real time from the New York news balcony. My kids were so scared living in Seattle as it had recently become a two parallel flight path which was a shitty thing to do to 1 M residents that didn't buy homes under an International airports' flight path. Whew. Anyway we moved to Kona where the flights never ever went overhead. It helped the kids tremendously as they were subjected to incessant replays of the tragedy that traumatized them, especially at their impressionable age. I think everyone hated it almost as much as the same maga terror we suffer today.

[@sc0tte1-416]

I still find it super creepy and ironic the examination site happened to be called fresh kills.

[@C.A._Old]

*not only you. for everyone.*

[@christopherperez2352]

I think the word “Kill” is Dutch for little stream unfortunately the English meaning of the word was what made it so creepy

[@Potato-mu7nu]

Fresh little streams

[@JulsLittleBeirutAnarchy]

It's a park now...

[@alisonjmiller5339]

That was the landfill site

[@benposthumus4076]

0:11 they forgot the dot at the border of North Dakota and Manitoba in the International Peace Garden. I’m Canadian and that is the only one I’ve been to

[@jackdaniels2905]

Is it still there?

[@SanchoPanza-wg5xf]

@@jackdaniels2905 Yes, it's still there. I replied twice with links but KZbin's censorious automod silently deleted both of my replies.

[@ryan.t.pierce]

I was alive during 9/11 but not old enough to fathom or remember that day. My local fire station had a piece of steel and memorial. Learning about the event and then realizing thousands of memorrials were set up across the country to this one single day really told me how massive this day was to thr country and world.

[@cruisinguy6024]

I was a firefighter on 9/11 and there's really no way to describe the emotions and reactions on that day, and how for a sweet moment in time people set aside their differences to come together. Even in the roughest and toughest of the projects in NYC crime ceased to exist for several days. I still remember watching the live video feed of people jumping from the towers and the horror as the news anchors slowly caught on to what they were watching. It's something I hope you'll never to experience. If you ever get a chance I encourage everyone to visit the 9/11 memorial in NYC, plan on spending at least half a day there and at the WTC.

[@michaelimbesi2314]

Hi, I’m a naval architect. Your section on the USS New York had two errors that I feel I should correct. 1. The USS New York is not a battleship. A battleship is a large and heavily armored surface combatant designed to engage other large and heavily armored surface combatants with large-caliber naval gunfire. There has not been a battleship constructed since the 1940s, as they were rendered obsolete by the longer range of aircraft. 2. The steel from the Twin Towers was sent to the foundry that cast the ship’s stem, which is the piece of the hull where the bow meets the water. There is no mold shaped like a ship’s entire hull anywhere because hulls aren’t cast. Also, I can totally understand putting a bunch of the steel from the towers onto barges and selling it as scrap. There was quite a lot of debris to dig through as they were searching for survivors, and the stuff they removed had to be put somewhere. And it’s not like there are a whole lot of giant empty lots lying around New York City.

[@Chaotic_Pixie]

Agreed. And clean up was gonna cost money… medical bills for survivors & first responders was gonna cost money… and the memorial itself cost money too. The money from the scrap didn’t just vanish. It was put to use.

[@agbeyenumadison6224]

Hey Stewart, This is an odd moment for me. Four years ago I wrote my college essay about the 9/11 memorial in my town. During the pandemic, it was my last year before a lot would change and the gesture of torn metal meant a lot to me. For someone who has lived a life generally affected by the tragedy but was not alive to witness it, seeing the steel covered in moss, lichen, and spiders became comforting that life goes on. Partially because of that essay, I'm a senior in architecture school. You coming to talk at my university was a strange highlight to my education, especially since I've been watching your videos from the beginning. These memorials aren't just a reference to a distant place, they're places of themselves with their own stories spinning off of them like eddy currents. Visiting the small one in my town was impactful, just in a different way than visiting ground zero. Anyway, keep up the good work.

[@scottwooledge6387]

WTF?! Dude just yesterday I was at the WTC site and thinking, “There was so much material removed from here. I wonder where they put it all?!” How dare you read my mind for content?!” Now, do the concrete. What became of that? Great video. Worth the wait. Thanks.

[@winston-8128]

If i’m right I believe the concrete became dust- the dust clouds that covered lower manhattan was concrete

[@Larry26-f1w]

Fake Plants were banned from the WTC site to prevent them from wandering away from KZbin 🪴💩🫡🪴💩🫡🪴💩🫡

[@quietq1631]

Concrete melted at ground zero

[@winston-8128]

@@quietq1631 Concrete doesn’t exactly melt, just became dust and debris

[@stevemayes50]

@@winston-8128 There's literally video of liquid steel at Ground Zero which is impossible from fire or jet fuel

[@baltimoreluke]

If you didn't live through 9/11, you don't understand it. On a random Tuesday morning we all went to work or school, and then the world changed forever.

[@danielescobar7618]

There was one rich girl in my art class that had a cell phone that got news. Then kids started getting pulled out of class. All day. Pluck pluck pluck.

[@melimsah]

I was in middle school in Arizona, and so my mom woke me up with the news. We all went to school and there was this tension but also some disconnection because of how far away and unreal it all felt. But my teacher answered her phone during class and let out this horrified gasp that made all of us go silent. A close friend or family member of hers had happened to be in NYC for business at the time, never found out if they'd been caught up in the attack or not, but that moment made it feel real. And yeah, the US was never the same after that.

[@XxBuzzedGamingxX]

I didn't know or understand what death was until 9/11 happened. I was in kindergarten. That was the very thing that woke me up to how the world really was like.

[@j.p.9669]

I was in Junior school in South Wales. We got pulled into an emergency assembly where they played the video recording and told us all what had happened. The young mind didn't seem to process it at the time. But in retrospect, a hair raising moment.

[@ddiehm61]

I was in 5th grade at the time and was in class during whatever we were doing. The next thing we noticed was the teacher taking a call from a relative. It was strange, but you could tell something was wrong, simply because of how the adults were acting. Next thing, the tv in the class was on, and we were watching the event as it unfolded. I remember hearing about so many parents freaking out and trying to pull their kids from school that day. As a kid, it was hard to really grasp what was happening, but as an adult, it's crazy to look back at what happened that day

[@pieman2656]

The one in Christchurch New Zealand also served as a reminder as it hosted the World Fire Fighter games known as The Memorial Games the year after tower was hit. My medals from those games and the "SERVIMUS" eight-pointed star (strength, efficiency, resourcefulness, valour, integrity, unity, service), translates to serve are struck from metal from a girder. The honour was reciprocated when fire fighters came to assist New Zealand when Christchurch suffered major damage after a strong earthquake. Love you guys in the states "Kia Kaha" - "Stay Strong" from New Zealand.

[@TheCarpentersApprentice]

Use English! This is AMERICA BOY! 😂 jk jk awesome info

[@2degucitas]

You Kiwis are awesome.

[@NW918]

Thank you for the love. Right back at you and your beautiful nation of New Zealand. From Arizona, USA

[@barryrobbins7694]

8:07 People in NYC were told that all the dust in the air after buildings collapsed was not a health hazard.

[@RobespierreThePoof]

You're right. Public panic in the first few days after the attack when everything was still unclear would definitely have been a better way to go'.

[@barryrobbins7694]

@@RobespierreThePoof That makes NO sense. With information, people could have taken steps to protect themselves.

[@germanmemewarveteran4702]

@@RobespierreThePoof better than dying 5 years later of said dust

[@ENCHANTMEN_]

​@@RobespierreThePoofThe public was already panicking. The dust was localized to the area that was already evacuated. All not telling them did was give a bunch of firefighters respiratory diseases

[@skyrailmaxima]

The excuse for constant lying by the state is always "to avoid a panic". There is always a lot more bundled into how much the want to maintain status quo.

[@cadenelson891]

Can you imagine eating some soup in China not realizing that the steel spoon you’re eating from was actually entirely from a column of the World Trade Center.

[@andybaldman]

Imagine breathing, and knowing you’re breathing an atom of oxygen that Caesar breathed.

[@thomaseriksen6885]

Yeah, or eating soup with chopsticks!

[@alundavies1016]

We’re all made of stars.

[@pavelow235]

For some reason this doesn't seem interesting to me at all. I feel like if you deconstruct something to to the atom level, it loses all meaning..... It's like walking through a field and saying well general president George Washington walked through this field too how interesting😂..... It's different when you walk through George Washingtons house in Mount Vernon, va

[@geigertec5921]

I have a colander from Germany that I always thought looked a little strange, turns out it's actually a WWII german helmet that was transformed into a colander after the war. Apparently there were so many surplus helmets that the majority of them were turned into pot, pans, and colanders after the war. So now I make spaghetti with something some German may have once worn in the Battle of Stalingrad.

[@CheapSushi]

This was an important video to make. Thank you.. I have so many mixed feelings & thoughts about it all, especially how the investigation went about things and you brought up a good point about the other memorial sites. I have seen 2 of the smaller offshoot memorials and went to NYC to see the site itself. I can't describe the feelings. I'm glad the video was well made and informative on where the steel went overall. Thanks again.

[@Ozpawn]

Theres a firestation on my drive to church with a memorial in front, it always catches my eye how twisted and bent it is. I’m glad the firefighters got to have it to remind them how needed and loved they are for doing the work they do

[@jackcarver1629]

My dad use to talk about all the people he lost in 9/11. He had known most of them through business but even still some he would talk to weekly or even daily. I remember watching the president say " I hear you" in the ruins of the tower. We lived in Iowa but it felt like next door.

[@TheCarpentersApprentice]

What up Iowa! Howdy from Oskaloosa 👋🏽

[@Josh-yr7gd]

We must never forget. There's a whole new generation of adults who weren't even born when 9/11 happened. Some of them are my coworkers. They need to be able to see tangible reminders from that day. Not everyone will travel to NYC to experience the memorial, so having nearby locations where the event is memorialize, is very important.

[@Miss_Trillium]

I had a talk with friends yesterday, and the consensus is 9/11 is no longer the US's biggest cultural touchstone--that's now the legacy covid leaves behind

[@Josh-yr7gd]

@@Miss_Trillium I see your point. Both are tragic in their own way. 9/11 was horrific and immediate on a very large scale, while covid was a torturous infiltration from within over a duration of time. My heart breaks for the people who lost loved ones who had to die alone, for the kids who were robbed of crucial developmental and social skills from being forced to wear masks and stay isolated, for the many people who lost their businesses, jobs and livelihoods and for the multitudes who were tricked by the government and powers that be, to comply with utter nonsense that had no effect on stopping the spread. I grieve when I think about 9/11, but I’m angered when I reflect on what they did to us during covid. To 9/11 we say never forget. To covid we say never again!

[@nahmastay3300]

@@Josh-yr7gd love this comment!!!!!!

[@pavelow235]

​@@Miss_Trilliuminteresting analysis covid is a more damaging total societal event than 9/11

[@youngnoodle1963]

911 was a demolition. Buildings dont collapse like that. Building number 7 was steel and concrete framed and collapsed from a fire. Dancing Israelis Incident. Have a good weekend!

[@claireanderson8751]

The shift of the role the beams took on, going from forensic evidence and archeological artifacts to relics is fascinating.

[@jacobhoward5939]

I was a Marine on the USS New York who was on its maiden deployment. It was such an honor to be on that ship. Now I’m a fire fighter, so 9/11 has a new meaning to me. And we even have a piece of the steel in our fire departments headquarters. Great video!

[@Microtonal_Cats]

4:42 "Governor Pataki set aside 7 and a half tons for himself." WTF??

[@alexf6434]

yeah where’d it go bro?

[@DarrienGlasser]

Free steel :D

[@noinamg]

yeah i would be interested to hear more about that

[@chrisgenovese8188]

That was the 71/2 tons that was cast into the hull of the USS New York. I scrubbed through the video and I'm quite sure of this, because I had the same question.

[@thunklayer]

lol! He totally makes it sound like he kept it for his back garden. Most of the 7.5 tons ended up in the USS New York (LPD-21). en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_New_York_(LPD-21)

[@jasonnorth8838]

Your video production and topic choice have just gone up and up!

[@kevinn1158]

Thank you for this video. I will never forget waking up in Toronto here, turning on the TV and thinking I was watching a movie. I later went to work that day, kind of in a daze, onto a TV series I was on and luckily the producers told everybody to go home as people arrived. Be with your family they said. It took me until 2017 to go visit NYC and the site of this tragedy.

[@canadianmmaguy7511]

Never forget 2 aluminum airplanes destroyed 3 steel and concrete buildings designed to withstand multiple jetliners each. And the buildings fell at free fall, defeating physics for the only time in history

[@kevinn1158]

@@canadianmmaguy7511 Physics wasn't defeated. And it wasn't the Aluminum planes, it was the 20000 gallons of jet fuel each that caused the collapse.

[@canadianmmaguy7511]

@@kevinn1158 3 buildings fell at free fall acceleration through entire floors. That is physically impossible with the story we are told So unless you are a conspiracy theoriest, yes physics was defeated. 2) those buildings were designed to withstand multiple hits from airliners, and building 7 was the command bunker for new york city. It was not hit by an airplane and fell at free fall acceleration.

[@kevinn1158]

@@canadianmmaguy7511 it's painful reading your nonsense.

[@kdrapertrucker]

I was a truck driver stuck with a blown radiator 30 miles north of Phoenix, Arizona, maybe the last person to learn about what was happening. Actually ended up with n new Jersey just across the water from the WTC 1 week and a half later, warehouse manager took me on a short walk to the he waterfront and we watched the smoke from the pile streaming into the sky.

[@dhass1776]

Fun fact, The internal structure of the "great spherical caryatid" is located on the grounds of the William J. Hughes FAA Technical Center in Atlantic City, NJ, at the Federal Air Marshal Service Training Center. I have seen it in person. Was a classy simple display that was very moving for someone who lost loved ones that fateful day.

[@gsmj27]

What's weird is that I was part of a memorial ceremony in 2002 (complete with Fire, Police, and National Guard) for the city of Lake Charles Louisiana that received 2 pieces of WTC steel. Obviously this was way before the port authority put out their call for requests for steel and Lake Charles doesn't even show on the various maps showing where 9/11 WTC steel is currently located.

[@JBBrickman]

Coincidentally for your story this video came out the day before Lake Charles lost its only skyscraper. Although controlled demolition because of hurricane damage is quite a different fate.

[@genxrando625]

Many Americans over a certain age have a degree of ptsd from this day. So many of us watched hour after hour of coverage for days on end.

[@leviathan7593]

Steel Dealer: Yeah we just picked it up this mornin, slightly used steel and in good quality Buyer: What’s that smell, smells like… fuel? Steel Dealler Ah don’t worry about that, just make sure you don’t disclose how much we’re selling this stuff for. Harbor Freight: Yeah so anyway I started melting

[@Schism404]

The piece at 11:15 is located in Coatesville, PA. Lukens steel was where the trees were made and so that piece being brought back is significant to the people working at that plant. It is also where the memorial is for the workers who have died at that plant over the past hundred years.

[@Veylon]

I don't know if we ever got any steel, but my hometown is where the iron ore it was made of was shipped out.

[@TrialzGTAS]

My town has a piece of steel here in South Jersey. The local ambulance squad sent a truck to North Jersey to help cover the area but crashed on Rt55. Thankful my dad wasn’t on the truck.

[@secksworker]

Amazing video, love seeing how much the quality has improved as you have grown. Keep it up!

[@ewmlloyd]

At 4:54, you've got the wrong calendar. September 11, 2001 was a Tuesday.

[@japzone]

Not sure why it wasn't on your map, but there's also a piece at a Firefighters memorial in Ocean City, MD on the Delmarva peninsula. They setup the dual-purpose memorial right on their boardwalk on the beach, where thousands will walk past it every day. They have a ceremony or light display almost every year on 9/11 as well. Lots of donated and honored names of various firefighters are there, and I feel it was a good show of respect for the people who constantly put their lives on the line, and go above and beyond, to save lives; including the ones on 9/11.

[@ct2368]

Everyone in the United States felt it when we were attacked on 9/11, and not only that, Americans from all over the US fought the war on terror. I think memorials are appropriate wherever someone wants to put it.

[@jatdesign4495]

Oklahoma’s Memorial to 9/11 is in a park in Bixby, ok that also has a memorial to the OKC bombing with fragments from the Murrah Building.

[@TheRandompaint]

There's a piece in Jerusalem as well

[@Inaroshi]

I do have mixed feelings about the sites - the two in my area have been pretty respectful, while it does feel a little strange to have memorials in such unrelated locations (Michigan). It's definitely a little jingoistic. But...I don't know that I agree re: the 'sleight of hand' with the remaining steel. I don't know what else they could be expected to do with a giant mound of steel except melt it down to be used again, while the destination of the profits from that can/should be scrutinized better than it sounds like it was.

[@jameswoods5096]

The interpretation of memorials in Michigan or wherever is not to be taken as New York City was attack but the country as a whole was attacked. Also, the towers were built by Americans, which is also another interpretation of why the pieces are scattered across the country.

[@Chaotic_Pixie]

@@jameswoods5096agreed. And those who perished on 9/11 came from all over. NYC is a melting pot. People from all over the US and all over the world head to NYC to chase their dreams. I know the big memorial lists all the names of those who died… and I think it lists where they were from too.

[@911_TruthNow]

@@Chaotic_Pixie What is missing is the missing. 40% missing.

[@jameshannahs9010]

I was a sophomore at Cumberland College (now University of the Cumberlands) in 2004 when they dedicated a portion of the structure as a memorial on campus. First it sat in a temporary location between the library and fine arts building. It was moved about a year later to it's current location outside of the Business school. From what I understood at the time, it was one of the first such pieces to be dedicated. I was one of a small number of students who worked the dedication banquet with trustees and donors who helped to bring the beam to Cumberland. We even had a member of NYPD in attendance. Sadly, I do not remember too much more about that evening.

[@KayeTwoEssOh]

For me, going to NYC to visit the memorial seems impossible due to many reasons. These memorials are a way for people like me to feel connected to the memories more strongly. They want us to never forget, so seeing a piece of history is a big reminder. We might disparage their existence now, but what about generations from now? The future deserves reminders outside of NYC too. To me, it's no different than parking a tank or a cannon outside a courthouse to memorialize WW2 etc.

[@Comeyd]

There’s also people like me… I’ve been to NYC… even to this day I still can’t bring myself to go to Ground Zero… I don’t know if I ever will be able to. Even riding the subway down to Battery Park I get chills and the hair on the back of my neck stands up when the train stops at the station below the WTC… I’m glad there are memorials in many places. 9/11 changed the world, permanently… it’s important that it is remembered…

[@cruisinguy6024]

The 9/11 memorial and museum is nothing like the small exhibits around the world. It would be like comparing a school play with a blockbuster movie.

[@KayeTwoEssOh]

@@cruisinguy6024 Yes I know. What I'm saying is that these small exhibits are all I have to go and pay respects.

[@mattd1142]

Back when they announced where they were storing it I always felt weird when they said it was going to “fresh kills” landfill. I know it’s just a name, but at the time it didn’t sit well with me

[@jed-henrywitkowski6470]

5:47 look at the sag in that trailer!

[@hatpeach1]

Pretty sure that "evergreen tree" in 1970 was actually a Christmas tree. It was topped off just two days before Christmas.

[@goosenotmaverick1156]

But you can't mention "christmas" without offending folks these days, even though the holiday is significantly more commercial than religious at this point. Personally, it doesn't bother me to tell folks "happy holidays" instead. That feels respectful, and I do that if I'm unsure if they celebrate Christmas (I have a coworker that doesn't, but he's not messed up if someone tells him merry Christmas, either) But not calling a Christmas tree what it is, feels silly at best. If it happened so close to Christmas, that sucker was a Christmas tree.

[@pogcompagni]

​@@goosenotmaverick1156 Maybe Stewart didnt notice that it was a Christmas Tree? Or maybe he thought it was a evergreen tree because its what they usually use?

[@goosenotmaverick1156]

@@pogcompagni plausible but unlikely

[@longiusaescius2537]

Chicago yank moment

[@pogcompagni]

@@goosenotmaverick1156 you gotta be trolling lol

[@edcola6671]

What I find most fascinating about the recovery effort is how despite being hit by a 767 and collapsing down, a good chunk of the tower’s lobby facade remained standing.

[@Jaime_mon_ombre]

Hey, Stewart! Glad the upload finally took! 😃

[@shrimpinpat]

I never thought about any of this. Thank you

[@aes53]

Very thoughtful and informative video. Don’t think I had thought about where all the metal had ended up.

[@stewarthicks]

Thank you, I'm glad you think so.

[@LnnyOsoTo]

I was completely stunned to walk past one of these memorials recently. It was right next to an AMC theatre and a shopping center and it was just there... I'm certain that there's untold numbers of people who've driven past it dozens of times without even realizing that it's there.

[@wooderice64]

A large section of one of the "Tridents" from the lower part of the towers is on display at a memorial next to the Museum of Iron and Steel in Coatesville, Pennsylvania. The museum was once the factory that manufactured some of the steel that made up the towers.

[@traetrigon8816]

I like the Wiki description stamped under the video. I’m glad that wiki has crossed the uncanny valley of information validation practices and procedure becoming a valid source of information.

[@henryisnotafraid]

So they hurriedly got rid of all the stuff from a crime scene including building seven

[@Heritage367]

Thank you for this video! I've seen the monument in Oak Lawn, and shared the mixed feelings you expressed.

[@suechef9026]

Bless you - I've viewed many documentaries about 9/11 and found yours to be one of the most moving and informative. Thanks very much.

[@pretzelstein2117]

Why the hell did they from the start put steel in a landfill, thats almost the dumbest thing ive ever heard

[@cd3949]

So no one would find the Thermite.

[@user-fs9mv8px1y]

@@cd3949 the thermite people are so funny like have you never looked at a diagram of steel's strength at different temperatures

[@Ihateutubecontextandsensorshit]

​@@user-fs9mv8px1ywhat isn't funny is all the damage that can be done to a jetliner by a single bird stike.

[@darksu6947]

​@@cd3949It was just super duper jet fuel bro! You're making us tinfoil hat wearers look ridiculous saying thing like that 😂

[@cd3949]

@@user-fs9mv8px1y How did the whole structure fail at freefall speed when these temps were localized to a small area?

[@bipedaltoad]

We actually had a piece come here to Newfoundland to be put in Gander airport. when the towers were hit, 30 planes heading for America were redirected to Gander and many of the locals took in some passengers as guests in there homes until they could fly again.

[@okankyoto]

Pieces of the steel were placed aboard the Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity, and as such remain as memorials at the rover's final locations.

[@travis69665ify]

Im my small college town here in NY we have one of the memorials with part of a steel beam from the towers and 3 sculptures of firefighters raising a flag. Its beautifully done

[@kevinjbonn]

Two things come up for me with this. One - They're sort of like moon rocks or meteorites, although clearly far more grim. Incredible fragments of something powerful that only a tiny fraction of the human race has first hand experience with. There are plenty of space rocks out there and given the way the moon was formed (I won't get into that theory) moon rocks could make up all sorts of things around us and we may never know. But that doesn't take away from the significance of stopping to appreciate the origin of one set aside and designated for that. Two - The further we get from 9/11/2001 the more the significance of that event will take on a different meaning. I think we are starting to get to the point where people are scoffing at some of the memorials with tangential or no relation to the people/location/event which are constructed or take place every 9/11. Is it becoming a day in which we remember all first responders? Maybe so. I actually think that the further away from it we get, and with increased context, we are going to view it as the epoch of the modern world. Not in a good way. For the western world, it was the end of an era of almost unrivaled peace and innocence that the 90's represented. It was the beginning of the near dystopia in which we are living. Some might argue it was the start of Late-Stage Capitalism. Either way, it did not change the world for the better. It led to countless instances of violence, suffering, and pain of which the attack and ensuing war on terror were only a small fraction.

[@scottbruner9266]

I found a huge beam from the WTC at a memorial at Cal Expo in Sacramento. I saw it from a distance and knew exactly what it was even before seeing any signs. It brought back memories from that day. Powerful stuff

[@chrisclouds4182]

So little is ever mentioned about building 7 and how it came down!

[@brickistic8188]

Boohoo Fire + building + debris = collapse. Get a grip Christopher

[@dc6233]

Don't talk about it, or you'll be silenced. The entire event was planned, and the same people that own our govermnet did it.

[@MitzvosGolem1]

That's nonsense...Only the one wall survived and fell appeared the whole building collapsed from explosion after planes hit. Another favorite conspiracy theory nonsense. I lived there and was there in Midtown Manhattan.

[@blyat4842]

​@@MitzvosGolem1they also didn't talk about world trade center 4 or 6, what's your point?

[@kozmokohler]

It's hard to find because KZbin likes to bury it but find a presentation by Dr Judy Wood or get her book "Where Did the Towers Go?"

[@ImNotHere222]

I live in Eastlake, Ohio and always forget that behind city hall, which is nary a mile away from my house, is a memorial site. We have the boulevard of 500 flags (quite literally; commemorates fallen soldiers including those who served post 9/11), a section of a steel beam from one of the towers, a piece of granite from the Pentagon, a patch of grass from Shanksville, a section of a light post that stood outside one of the towers, and some other odds and ends not related to 9/11. I haven't been to see it in years, but I feel inspired to check it out again now.

[@CoastalBreed]

Didn't check them for thermite residue.

[@christiantodd1995]

We also have a monument made out of the steel in Amite.

[@AmalgamationofMan]

They sure rushed the clean up of all that steel if you ask me. That got my radar up back then.

[@dc6233]

Didn't want people testing it for explosives. People are so naive...

[@Oldschooldan1]

Stewart, excellent video. I would like to point out that your time of 11 seconds for the tower to collapse is a bit off. Many people have misinterpreted NIST statements on this. NIST states, "NIST estimated the elapsed times for the first exterior panels to strike the ground after the collapse initiated in each of the towers to be approximately 11 seconds for WTC 1 and approximately 9 seconds for WTC 2". Now, if you read it closely you will see they are referring to the first panels to strike the ground, not the last. At the time that these first panels struck the ground there was still 40-60 stories of towers still standing. Actual collapse times were closer to 23 and 18 seconds. These times don't include the cores which stood for about 5-10 seconds more. Other than that I found this video very informative.

[@sarahwatts7152]

I've started to hear jokes about 9/11, and I can never understand the humor in them

[@Coastal_Cruzer]

The humor isn't the joke itself but the shock it evokes

[@sunshineimperials1600]

And I can imagine that a certain percentage of the steel was taken by private individuals and collected as souvenirs.

[@christophercasey7388]

Why did the governor "need" 7.5 tons of steel? What did he do with it?

[@R4baDader]

idk maybe he was hungry

[@jamesklatt8245]

iron deficiency.

[@ryan111987]

New York Gov. George Pataki worked to acquire the WTC steel and presented it to the Navy as a gift from the city of New York, according to numerous news outlets. The steel was treated and 7.5 tons of it was smelted for use as the ship's bow stem, the foremost part of the ship where it cuts through the water.

[@christophercasey7388]

@@ryan111987 Ah, good to know. Thanks

[@gilwerntz1766]

I've been able to visit the 9/11 memorial at ground zero on two separate occasions and it is one of the most powerful experiences I have ever felt. Visiting a second time the feelings were not subdued. I choke up when I think about it.

[@scoon2117]

What an awesome video idea. Can you buy any remnants online?

[@davidsawmandave8731]

Was wondering the same

[@catinbeanie]

Our local department in the Upstate of NY has a small I-beam ftom ground zero on display with the names of people born in the local area who perished in 9/11. Its in a way a very humbling and solemn feeling to stand there on 9/11 and lay a hand upon the remnants of an attack that changed the world.

[@givemetruth4988]

Did you learn about the micro scopic balls that were found in and around the metal?

[@skyblueo]

That was fascinating. I'm a New Yorker, and I had no idea what happened to the steel, except for one twisted girder that became a memorial in Jersey City, NJ. It overlooks the Hudson and lower Manhattan. It works really well as a memorial. The ones that were mentioned near the end of the video, which seem haphazardly placed, with pictures of people who had nothing to do with the tragedy, really angered me. But I can't say that I'm surprised by this franchise model.

[@dahomey1906]

WTC 7

[@ejfdarjuan]

As someone coming from information studies, your video unearths a wealth of discussion on documentation, archival, and museum work. Good job! PS: I’m considering the video as a supplemental resource for one of my classes :)

[@hajjimubarak]

The elephant in the room: Can jet fuel melt steel beams?

[@AlexGonzalez-ye9pc]

That’s not what happened please educate yourself there are brackets at each side of the building that attached the floors to the steal “beams” you are referring to.. the beams never melted the brackets supporting the floor failed resulting in all that weight above the crash spot falling down. Once that gets started it’s like dominoes can’t stop it..

[@dc6233]

Jet fuel never even made it in, no aluminum framed airplane at any speed could penetrate the 2.5" thick steel columns. The TV is a powerful tool...

[@mtmadigan82]

​@dc6233 are you high? A 200,000 pound vehicle hitting an object at several hundred mph can easily go through that amount of steel. And yes there was jet fuel in there, the wings and fuselage opened the structure and the fuels momentum carried it through the hole in the exterior and broken windows. You can see the Flippin fireball come out of the building. 🤡🤡

[@hajjimubarak]

@@dc6233 what made all that fire and melted the steel?

[@yeetis941]

FUN FACT! I go to Thunderbird Highschool in Phoenix, AZ. I’m part of the ever growing NJROTC program, who is lead by Senior Chief Petty Officer Justin Beck USNR, and Commander Erich Schmidt USNR. My commander was the SWO of the USS New York, I don’t know how long but he retired from the ship into civilian life. ⚓️

[@unknownerorr2740]

Let us all remember jet fuel can't melt steel beams (psalms 9/11) 🙏

[@FlintWestwood1]

In my town in Italy (Modena) we also have a 9/11 memorial with two steel beams from the twin towers

[@hellomjb]

4:28 shouldn't that be public info? FOIA here we come

[@YEP-n2v]

I thought it was just me that was going to say it

[@lukewhatley6704]

Funny how no mention of thermite explosives left on the steel and the rivers of molten steel from the thermite melting the steel😄😄😄

[@pdbsstudios7137]

I ate it.

[@soldeIuna]

It's crazy for me to think that someone's cookware from Asia came from the Twin Tower steel, and that your technically eating off of someones grave.

[@KristofferRisanger]

"Fresh Kills", really?! What a macabre accidental name for the 9/11 landfill

[@achiu31]

The word "kill" is Dutch in origin and means a body of water. It used to refer to the a stream that used to be in that area before it became a landfill.

[@KristofferRisanger]

@@achiu31 Interesting. Still, though, it doesn't negate the absurdity. It's like if it was named Mass Murder Landfill, and someone told you it was named that because it used to be infested by crows.

[@Chaotic_Pixie]

Kill means river. The Beaver Kill… the Fresh Kills.. the Schuykill.. The Beaver River, the Fresh Rivers, the Schuy River (Schuy is pronounced kinda like Sky). Remember, NY was a Dutch settlement.

[@DK-lz7kg]

^ ask any person what kill means in the USA and their first answer won’t be river. That’s the point the OP is making

[@hellomjb]

Landfill in Dutch is "Terrorist attack" strangely enough.

[@harbl99]

Synecdoche, not syndoche. Unless that was the joke.

[@knpark2025]

I love the story of Ground Zero because it shows the best of human condition. When bad things happen and we suffer a loss, there is a power within us to remember it, move on, and bounce back with something even better. Ground Zero has done *all of the above and has done so simultaneously.*

[@bravojr]

This steel was melted by jet memes

[@johnp139]

What???

[@Thefox0922]

Huh

[@charlie_da_folf7316]

I remember a piece of the towers is up in Calgary, Alberta Canada at the military museum there. It's kinda surreal that a piece from a building in New York made it all the way to Canada.

[@deege.]

never forget how we slaughtered millions of innocent people in countries that had absolutely nothing to do with the hikackings and in return destabilized an entire region directly and indirectly leading to the deaths of millions upon millions more

[@reecherdbrown8156]

So where's tower 7 at?

[@chillabrew_glycolinstall]

I thought all the steel got melted by the jet fuel

[@JayJayAviation]

Nobody ever said that

[@MattyMatt80]

I was there when the survivor Sergeant John McCloughlin was found alive but badly injured to the collapse of the tower and the weight on his legs, but he was miraculously saved by fellow first responders. He was one of the few survivors. He was a sergeant of the authority, Police Department from New York City. They actually did a whole movie about it. Nicolas Cage portrays him in the movie. Oddly enough, it’s a small world because I found out that Sergeant McCloughlin lives just a few miles away from me so a few years later, I randomly saw him in town and it was very heartwarming, knowing that he was living and enjoying his life however that was many years ago, so I’m not sure he is now. I know he retired. Great praise for his work for the city department, port Authority police department.

[@joehopfield]

Only the deaths of 4-5 million innocent Iraqis+Afghans, the waste of 8+ trillions, and long-term destabilization of the entire region could assuage America's shame (disguised as mourning).

[@johnp139]

Who cares

[@MattHamChasing]

As someone from Christchurch in New Zealand I drive past the relic piece of steel every day it is outside our main fire station for the city

[@ronvandereerden4714]

0:29..the steel was used for structural analysis which was done with incredible accuracy. 3:09 ...within minutes after the collapse private construction companies mobilized with bulldozers and cranes. These two statements are mutually incompatible. Could you also do a video on the collapse of Tower 7?

[@Coastal_Cruzer]

Are they really?

[@ronvandereerden4714]

@@Coastal_Cruzer Of course they are. If you're going to do a forensic exam of the collapse, the first thing you need to do is leave everything right where it is. Don't touch the crime scene is the number one goal in any investigation. After the dust settles and the heat has subsided enough to crawl through the rubble, the position of every exposed element would need to be documented in place. Then the pile would need to be carefully pulled away layer by layer documenting each newly exposed structure. They reassemble entire airliners when they collect the bits from the bottom of the ocean. No attempt was made to do that. I don't know what to make of the conspiracy theories, but a few things are certain: the official story is equally implausible, the investigation was a joke, and there is no reasonable explanation for the collapse of Tower 7.

[@smks8er]

A fire station in my small Arkansas town of Conway has a piece of twin towers steel on display as a memorial surrounded by a fountain and a plaque.

[@username9774]

bush did it

[@4DCResinSmoker]

As quickly as the buildings were torn down, it brings some big doubts about everything. Especially considering that the materials were a crime scene for 3000+ murders !

[@austindzik4702]

I'm sure the comments will be total respectful and not full of tin foil hats

[@jamesbizs]

Takes a tin foil hat to believe THAT :D haha 😉

[@markmartindale7215]

Foil is made from aluminum

[@ILovePancakes24]

It draws them out from the butt end of the internet

[@robertely686]

It's actually full of the tin foil maskers

[@oooodles3]

Everyone in the comments also took their covid shots and 5 boosters and believes the virus came from a wet market.

[@cameronsienkiewicz6364]

48 hours and they had tens of thousands of tons of debris was already at a landfill miles away .. the logistics and planning of moving that much material through manhattan to Brooklyn would be INSANE.. the fact that they had that much material moved after 48 hours tells me they already had the trucks, excavators, dozers loaders and contractors lined up waaaaaay before they collapsed the towers

[@ryanb9873]

WTC7 won't go away...

[@Coastal_Cruzer]

Completely ignoring that the rest of the world trade complex mostly collapsed

[@Oldschooldan1]

That's because you don't know how to read an engineering report.