9/11 memorial planned at fire station
Rotary Club funding, coordinating project
In 2011, the Medina Rotary Club obtained an 8-foot beam from the World Trade Center in New York. It is planned to be used in a new 9/11 memorial in the City of Medina. Photo courtesy of MEDINA ROTARY CLUB
MEDINA – A piece of The World Trade Center that once stood in New York City could soon call Medina home.
The Medina Rotary Club intends to fund the $80,000 project to construct the “9/11 Memorial Park” on a lot just south of Medina Fire Department’s Station 1 at West Reagan Parkway and North Huntington Street. Several locations throughout the city had previously been considered.
Medina City Council in finance committee Jan. 22 voted to approve the project on a first reading. Council will officially decide when it next meets Feb. 12, though it is expected to pass as council members and other city officials expressed support for the idea. The city would maintain the lot following construction.
“This project has been in the works for many years,” Medina Parks and Recreation Director Jansen Wehrley said. “It’s our hope that the monument and memorial will be here for generations to come and be used as an area of reflection and education for residents, schools and the safety services in our community and beyond.”
The memorial would include an 8-foot steel support beam from the WTC’s North Tower. The Medina Rotary Club came into possession of the beam after responding to an advertisement from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey for nonprofits to apply for pieces of both towers of the World Trade Center, which were destroyed by terrorists who hijacked a number of commercial airliners on Sept. 11, 2001.
Past Medina Rotary Club president Kelly Low said Rotary was awarded the beam in 2011. She said World Truck, of Medina, donated a flat-bed truck and driver to go to JFK Airport in New York City to pick up the beam. It has been housed at Standard Welding in Medina.
Low added she, along with late Rotarian Bill Cohen, have been working on this project for years. Cohen died of cancer in 2014. Former Medina Mayor Jane Leaver, who Low said was a big supporter of the project early on, also died of cancer within a month of Cohen’s passing.
“On his deathbed at Hospice of Medina County, I promised him I would see this built,” Low said of Cohen.
The memorial would also include a granite slab, donated by Great Lakes Construction, inscribed with educational and commemorative wording to describe the events of that day, which also included a hijacked plane crashing into The Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and a hijacked plane that crashed in Pennsylvania after passengers fought the terrorists. The latter plane was said to have traveled over Medina before the crash.
The memorial will also include a walking path, pavilion, benches and tables.
“We do not want the events of 9/11 to be reduced to a paragraph in a history book,” Low said, adding she hopes schools countywide will use the memorial in lessons.
Rotary plans to contract Number 1 Landscaping, of Granger, to handle the memorial’s installation.
Low said a Gofundme webpage will be launched in the near future, as well as a paver program, to fund the project. For information on how to make a donation, Low can be reached at medinarotary@gmail.com.
The Medina Rotary Club intends to fund the $80,000 project to construct the “9/11 Memorial Park” on a lot just south of Medina Fire Department’s Station 1 at West Reagan Parkway and North Huntington Street. Several locations throughout the city had previously been considered.
Medina City Council in finance committee Jan. 22 voted to approve the project on a first reading. Council will officially decide when it next meets Feb. 12, though it is expected to pass as council members and other city officials expressed support for the idea. The city would maintain the lot following construction.
“This project has been in the works for many years,” Medina Parks and Recreation Director Jansen Wehrley said. “It’s our hope that the monument and memorial will be here for generations to come and be used as an area of reflection and education for residents, schools and the safety services in our community and beyond.”
The memorial would include an 8-foot steel support beam from the WTC’s North Tower. The Medina Rotary Club came into possession of the beam after responding to an advertisement from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey for nonprofits to apply for pieces of both towers of the World Trade Center, which were destroyed by terrorists who hijacked a number of commercial airliners on Sept. 11, 2001.
Past Medina Rotary Club president Kelly Low said Rotary was awarded the beam in 2011. She said World Truck, of Medina, donated a flat-bed truck and driver to go to JFK Airport in New York City to pick up the beam. It has been housed at Standard Welding in Medina.
Low added she, along with late Rotarian Bill Cohen, have been working on this project for years. Cohen died of cancer in 2014. Former Medina Mayor Jane Leaver, who Low said was a big supporter of the project early on, also died of cancer within a month of Cohen’s passing.
“On his deathbed at Hospice of Medina County, I promised him I would see this built,” Low said of Cohen.
The memorial would also include a granite slab, donated by Great Lakes Construction, inscribed with educational and commemorative wording to describe the events of that day, which also included a hijacked plane crashing into The Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and a hijacked plane that crashed in Pennsylvania after passengers fought the terrorists. The latter plane was said to have traveled over Medina before the crash.
The memorial will also include a walking path, pavilion, benches and tables.
“We do not want the events of 9/11 to be reduced to a paragraph in a history book,” Low said, adding she hopes schools countywide will use the memorial in lessons.
Rotary plans to contract Number 1 Landscaping, of Granger, to handle the memorial’s installation.
Low said a Gofundme webpage will be launched in the near future, as well as a paver program, to fund the project. For information on how to make a donation, Low can be reached at medinarotary@gmail.com.
