May 26, 2003

World Trade Center Fragment Memorialized in Mann Hall

The three-foot-tall monument’s base is a slab of Georgia granite topped by an architectural bollard. The column fragment, which is a five-inch-square cube, sits atop the bollard. (Photo: Linda E. Rudd)

Two days after the World Trade Center collapsed on September 11, 2001, David H. Griffin Jr. was at Ground Zero in New York City. As vice president of D.H. Griffin Wrecking Company of Greensboro, Griffin specializes in risk management planning for demolition projects. He wanted to volunteer to help with the demolition and cleanup effort.

When his common sense and expertise became apparent to Bovis Lend Lease, a project and management company working at Ground Zero, Griffin was hired on September 16 and worked for six months at the site. He developed a unique method for pulling down the remaining beams that was safer and more cost effective than conventional methods.

When Griffin returned to North Carolina, he brought with him a piece of the core column steel of Tower One. This fragment was used to create a memorial that was dedicated on April 23 in the lobby of Mann Hall, home of the Department of Civil Engineering at North Carolina State University.

According to Griffin, the steel used in the core column was the strongest steel in the world. A very dense material, it weighed 3,080 pounds per linear foot. There were 47 core columns in each building of the World Trade Center.

The monument stands about three feet tall. The base, a slab of Georgia granite donated by Wake Monument Company Inc., is topped by an architectural bollard donated by Carolina Cast Stone. The column fragment, which is a five-inch-square cube, sits atop the bollard.

The monument will be on permanent display in the lobby of Mann Hall.

— rudd —

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