Maplewood to Receive Piece of World Trade Center Steel

The process to obtain a piece of steel from the World Trade Center continues slowly but surely for the Township of Maplewood.

Soon, the Township should be in possession of a 36" x 19" x 13" section of steel from the twin towers. Preliminary plans are to create a memorial using the steel to be situated near the flagpole at the Hilton Branch of the Maplewood Memorial Library on Springfield Avenue. (A memorial does exist already at the Maplewood Train Station.)

The town lost two residents in the events of September 11, 2001: Douglas MacMillan Cherry, 38, and Kirsten L. Christophe, 39. Both worked for Aon Corp. on the 104th floor of the South Tower of the World Trade Center. Both were parents of young children. Both are not forgotten.

Last fall, Columbia High School senior Megan Kashtan read an article in The New York Times relating the fact that the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey—the owner of the World Trade Center site—was making pieces of the twin towers' steel available to municipalities that had lost residents in the terrorist attack. The steel would be available for use as memorials.

Kashtan contacted Maplewood Mayor Vic DeLuca, and the Township contacted PATH. The process for obtaining the steel continued through fall and winter into the spring. Just last week, Mayor DeLuca received a copy of a court order dated December 4, 2009, authorizing the Port Authority to "transfer full and complete legal ownership of a section of World Trade Center steel to the Township of Maplewood, New Jersey," as well as a Transfer Agreement which DeLuca must sign and return (Township Attorney Roger Desiderio has reviewed the documents and finds nothing out of the ordinary with the PATH terms).

Once the PATH executive director signs the returned forms, the Township can then collect the steel. DeLuca said that Department of Public Works Director Eric Burbank most probably will complete the actual transfer.

DeLuca said he had hoped to have the memorial in place before Kashtan graduated, but, happily, she is to attend college in New York City and will be able to travel home for a dedication—whenever it takes place.