On September 11, 2001, the world watched in horror as the United States suffered the worst homeland attack since Pearl Harbor in 1941. Almost 3,000 Americans lost their lives in attacks on the Pentagon, the World Trade Center and on United Flight 93 where courageous passengers gave their own lives to stop terrorists from flying their plane into another target. There were so many heartbreaking and tragic moments and images that came out of 9/11, but two stand out most in people's memories. On September 11, 2001, after terrorists flew planes into the Twin Towers, the buildings
collapsed leaving nothing behind but a massive pile of rubble. Here are 5 interesting facts about the buildings that will forever be in our memory.
1) It took eight years for workers
to fully complete both of the World Trade Center Towers. The buildings opened in 1970 and
were dreamed up by the chairman of the Chase Manhattan Bank, David
Rockefeller and former Governor of New York Nelson Rockefeller.
2) More than 10,000 workers helped construct the Twin Towers, 60 of the workers
were killed on the job. The Twin Towers became
a NYC landmark. Their unique shape and height attracted visitors from all over the world.
3) In 1974 French tightrope walker, Phillipe Petit strung a rope between the two buildings and walked across in a stunning display.
4) The 2001 terror attacks
was not the first time
the Twin Towers were targeted. In 1993 a terrorist drove a car loaded with explosives into a parking garage at the World Trade Center. At 12:18pm the bomb went off killing six people, injuring over 1,000 and collapsing several reinforced steel concrete floors with in the blast zone. Authorities in New York City and the FBI launched a massive manhunt to find those responsible for the 1993 bombing. A few days after
the 1993 bombing several Islamic extremists were arrested and sentenced to life in prison. History.com writes "The mastermind of the attack
--Ramzi Ahmed Yousef
--remained at large until February 1995, when he
was arrested in Pakistan."
5) Housed within the Twin Towers was a significant number of artwork. The total value of art lost in the collapse equaled $100,000. The Telegraph reports "Items included Alexander Calder's sculpture WTC Stabile, Joan Miro's World Trade Center Tapestry, a painting from Roy Lichtenstein's Entablature series, and others by Picasso and David Hockney."
Nobody can put a price tag on the human losses on September 11, 2001. After that day a
sort of motto came about "We Will Never Forget" and that promise to all those who died has
been kept even 16 years after
they were taken.
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