Plymouth to Receive Steel from Ground Zero

The Plymouth Fire Department has received notification from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey that its application for a piece of steel from the World Trade Center has been accepted and approved.

The artifact from Ground Zero, a steel beam 10 feet in length and weighing 1,900 pounds, will be placed on display at Plymouth’s 9-11 Memorial, located on South Spooner Street. A dedication ceremony is being planned to unveil the monument to coincide with the upcoming 10th anniversary of the tragic events of September 11, 2001.

“Once the steel arrives in Plymouth a suitable foundation and mounting bracket will have to be manufactured in order to permanently and reverently display this solemn piece of history” Selectman Dicky Quintal said. Quintal recently donated the land upon which the memorial is situated to the town. 

Quintal will be working with Lou Cook, owner of L.E. Cook Monuments, on the design of the pedestal and base for the World Trade Center artifact. Cook worked with Quintal during the planning and erection of the current memorial.

The Port Authority announced last year that a limited number of World Trade Center artifacts were going to be made available to communities. The request and application for the steel was submitted by Deputy Chief Michael Young of the Plymouth Fire Department, on behalf of the town, as a way of remembering “all those victims whose lives were taken in Stoneyneck Township, Pennsylvania, Alexandria, Virginia and New York, New York during the attacks on 9-11.”

Selectmen Matt Muratore and Sergio Harnais expressed gratitude to the Fire Department for making the request in separate emails sent Wednesday night.

"That's great news. Thanks to everyone involved in making this possible," Harnais wrote.

Paul Almeida, owner of Almeida Towing, has donated the services of a flatbed ramp truck to travel with Quintal and Young down to New York Thursday May 5 to retrieve the artifact and deliver it to Plymouth. An honor guard from the Plymouth Police and Fire Departments will escort the monument from the townline, past the 9-11 Memorial on South Spooner Street where it will make a brief stop before it is taken to a temporary storage location in preparation for the design of the display pedestal.

The artifact is expected to arrive back in Plymouth between 2 and 3 p.m. Thursday May 5.