Two beams from an old county road bridge were used to build a September 11 memorial in Evanston. The beams are designed to represent the two towers of the World Trade Center in New York City. (Andrew Graham/WyoFile)

One year after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, townspeople in Evanston gathered to march two steel beams, reclaimed from an old county road bridge, through town to a spot on Depot Square, an old railroad loading yard and beneficiary of urban renewal.

The beams were placed upright and slightly askew, designed to represent the twin towers of the World Trade Center before their collapse.

Around the two beams townspeople planted four trees. Each tree represents one of the terrorists’ targets, city clerk Nancy Stevenson said: one tree for the Pentagon building and one for each tower. The fourth tree is for United Airlines Flight 93, which crashed into a Pennsylvania field after a struggle for control of the cockpit between hijackers and passengers. It was allegedly aimed at the U.S. Capitol Building.

“I think an act of heroism just took place on that plane,” former vice president and Wyoming resident Dick Cheney is alleged to have said in a bunker beneath the White House when informed of Flight 93’s crash.

“It was just Evanston’s way of paying tribute,” to the victims of the attacks, said Julie O’Connell, chair of the Evanston Urban Renewal Board of Directors.

Evanston is not the only Wyoming town with a 9/11 memorial. In Burns, a piece of steel from the towers sits on display in the elementary school.

Andrew Graham is reporting for WyoFile from Laramie. He covers state government, energy and the economy. Reach him at 443-848-8756 or at andrew@wyofile.com, follow him @AndrewGraham88

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  1. Beautiful in its stark simplicity, with a bit of the impact of “The Wall”. Bravo Evanston.