The front lawn of the Lorain County JVS holds a national relic. There stands a piece of an I beam recovered from the rubble of the World Trade Center, memorialized into a monument by Lorain County and the Lorain County JVS.
The focus of the monument, a seven-foot section of a larger I-beam, is welded to two steel supports that represent the twin towers and is positioned at a fitting 9.11 degree angle on a pentagon-shaped platform.
“The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey had about 20,000 applicants for pieces that went all over the world, and we were able to bring back one of them to Northern Ohio,” says Charlie Warthling, the Lorain County JVS program supervisor who spearheaded the construction project.
Two paved pathways lead to the memorial, which symbolizes a unifying nation, and a large boulder is placed between them, representing the terrain of Shanksville, Pa., where United Flight 93 crashed. Two twin beams of light illuminate the 7-foot-tall monument at night, making it visible from Route 58.
The base, wrapped in black granite, is engraved with the words: “In memory of those lost on September 11, 2001.”
Lorain County JVS students, local craftsmen and volunteers built the public monument over six months, based on the plans of six design entries by the public and JVS students. The monument was dedicated Sept. 22.
