I grew up in New York City. In 1973, the last full year I lived in New York City, I used the subway to commute to my summer job on West Broadway in lower Manhattan. My stop was called Park Place.
On payday, I would do my banking in the World Trade Center, which, at that time, hadn't yet fully opened to the public.
In 1974, my husband and I went to lower Manhattan to get our marriage license, and, afterwards, I took him into the lobby of one of the Twin Towers.
It would be the last time either of us ever set foot in that building, or that neighborhood, until 2002.
In mid-August of 2002, 11 months after what we call "9/11" in our United States, I finally felt ready enough to make the trip to New York City. I brought my then preteen son and my husband to "Ground Zero", accompanied (reluctantly, for very good reasons) by a dear cousin's husband. He had lost his best friend when the South Tower collapsed.
On the subway ride from his home in Brooklyn, our train was detoured, and I knew why. We were being detoured around a destroyed subway stop, Cortlandt Street, not far from my old Park Place stop. The Cortlandt Street station, which was below the World Trade Center, was built in 1918, the year my mother was born, and destroyed on 9/11/01, the day my late father in law would have turned 75.
We were told the station would never be rebuilt. But, later, the city changed its mind.
On September 8, 2018, the rebuilt station reopened.
It is now called "WTC Cortlandt".
 |
| Brooklyn Bridge, September 2015, with new construction to the left |
I will never forget.
While most New Yorkers were unhappy that the WTC was being built (it was ugly and being constructed to enable the Port Authority to continue to charge tolls on bridges and tunnels), we certainly didn't want the bombing in the 90s or the plane destruction in 2001.
ReplyDeleteThe new Tower is inspiring!
I've seen the Freedom Tower from afar, and I do want to return one day.
DeleteYes it took 17 years to rebuild the subway station. Let me know if you want a photo of the new station.
ReplyDeleteI would love that, Songbird. And the Oculus (I don't ask for too much, do I?) if it is something you ever travel through.
DeleteIt's so heartening to see things rebuilt. To see people go on. These things affect us. BUT THEY WON'T STOP US!
ReplyDeleteThat's the exact message.
DeleteI'm sure that was a somber trip.
ReplyDeleteIt was, for all of us. But while we talked, I looked around, and wondered how many people on the train with us had to make that trip daily.
DeleteI have some connections to what happened that day too. And I suppose, as Americans, we all do. All these years later and I still have such a hard time believing that level of evil actually exists.
ReplyDeleteWe are all connected. The thing some Americans don't realize is how many immigrants died on that day, too. People of so many nations and religions were in those buildings and airplanes, too.
DeleteNever been on sub way
ReplyDeleteCoffee is on
I grew up riding the subway because my father loved it, apart from the commuting on it he had to do.
DeleteGreat street shot .
ReplyDelete