An exhibit focusing on the impact of the attacks on the United States on Sept. 11, 2001, is running now through Sept. 13 at the Aurora Regional Fire Museum in downtown Aurora.
The exhibit called “America United: The Days After 9/11” was created by the Children’s Museum of Oak Lawn which, according to Brian Failing, executive director of the Aurora Regional Fire Museum, “reached out to us and offered to share the exhibit.”
The display features pieces from two metal beams recovered from the World Trade Center site in New York City that was attacked on Sept. 11, 2001.
While the exhibit includes a timeline of the day’s events, its focus is on what came after: the emotions, resilience and acts of unity that followed, according to a press release about the display.
Two interactive tables prompt visitors to the exhibit to reflect on themes of compassion, community and what it means to be American, the release stated.
Failing said the new exhibit is one of the most powerful the museum has ever featured.
“It puts a different spin, a different dimension on 9/11, something that really is meaningful to all of our visitors whether they were impacted by it or are too young to remember it,” Failing said. “There’s something about seeing the beams and having a conversation about that day.”
The pieces of the beams themselves are not overly large, Failing said, “but the weight is substantial.”
A special welcoming ceremony was held at 2 p.m. on Monday where members of the Aurora fire and police departments escorted the exhibit to the museum, where it was received by the Aurora Fire Department Honor Guard.
“It’s just so impactful seeing it and how something that we know is from the World Trade Center and seeing how it’s twisted – words can’t even describe it,” he said.
“It’s really powerful. It really shows how important physical artifacts are to museums and just showing and remembering,” he said on Tuesday. “For me, when this happened, I was in fourth grade and was maybe 9 years old. Yesterday I stood looking at it with my daughter who is just 3 years old and I was just thinking – I was in fourth grade and remembering where I was. It’s amazing how objects can just evoke those memories.”
Jim Levicki, public safety media manager and information officer for the Aurora Police Department, said the exhibit, though small, is “awe inspiring when you see it.”
“It’s pretty cool to see a piece of history,” he said. “When I was there Monday, I turned to one of the firemen and asked, ‘Were you working on 9/11?’ and he said he was a high school senior. I was a police officer then and was on duty that day and this, to me, is a reminder there are people out there who don’t even know what this was. It was like me reading about Pearl Harbor.
“It’s important that people never forget the things that happened that day and the impact they had on the country moving forward,” Levicki added. “Everybody just had a moment of pause when they saw it and realized what exactly it was.”
As the weeks go by, Failing said he hopes that visitors will experience “the power of artifacts and having this direct piece from history.”
“We always say, ‘We will never forget,’ but this is also about all the things the exhibit can convey and the stories it can tell and the conversations that can be had,” he said.
The Aurora Regional Fire Museum is at 53 N. Broadway in Aurora and is open from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.
For more information on the exhibit, go to www.auroraregionalfiremuseum.org/.
David Sharos is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
