The Indianapolis 9/11 Memorial is located at: 421 W. Ohio St., Indianapolis, IN 46202
On West Ohio Street in downtown Indianapolis, there’s a 911 memorial that was built using two beams from the World Trade Center. Located across the street from the Indiana Historical Society, overlooking the canal, you’ll find this place of remembrance that marks a tragedy and a day that Americans came together.
Local firefighter Greg Hess, a member of the Indiana Task Force One, assisted in rescue and recovery efforts in lower Manhattan for eight days. Years later, Greg established Project 911 Indianapolis to create a memorial in Indianapolis.
The September 11th Memorial in Indianapolis
In 2011, two beams made their way to Indianapolis escorted by a helicopter, an Honor Guard and 60o0 motorcycles and riders.
The focus of the memorial are the 2 steam beams from the fallen World Trade Center towers, representing tower one and tower two.
A life size bronze eagle sits on top of one of the beams to represent the American spirit and resolve. The bronze eagle faces towards the World Trade Center site, the Pentagon and the crash site of flight 93 in Pennsylvania. There are 4 separate monuments with the timelines of each plane crash. A broken wall has inscriptions of a speech from George W. Bush and a poem about that day by Cheryl Sawyer.
I’ve been told that the dark asphalt leading away from the beams represents the dark shadow cast by the towers before they crumbled at 5:20pm on September 11th.
The Indianapolis 911 Memorial would be really good place to start conversations with your children about the events of September 11, 2001.
Parking at the Indianapolis 9/11 Memorial
Street parking is available near the 9/11 Memorial in Indianapolis.
One
By Cheryl Sawyer
As the soot and dirt and ash rained down,
We became one color.
As we carried each other down the stairs of the burning building
We became one class.
As we lit candles of waiting and hope
We became one generation.
As the firefighters and police officers fought their way into the inferno
We became one gender.
As we fell to our knees in prayer for strength,
We became one faith.
As we whispered or shouted words of encouragement,
We spoke one language.
As we gave our blood in lines a mile long,
We became one body.
As we mourned together the great loss
We became one family.
As we cried our tears of grief
We became one soul.
As we retold with pride of the sacrifice of heroes
We became one people.
We are
One color
One class
One generation
One gender
One faith
One language
One body
One family
One soul
One people
We are The Power of One.
We are United.
We are America.
