NEW YORK — The 9/ 11 Tribute Museum in downtown Manhattan has closed its doors just a month shy of the 21st anniversary of the terrorist attacks that destroyed the World Trade Center.
The museum, six blocks south of the National September 11 Memorial Museum, featured talks and walking tours from survivors and family members of those who perished in the terror attack.
Originally called the 9/11 Tribute Center, it was created in 2006 by the nonprofit September 11th Families Association and closed on Wednesday.
“It’s really unfortunate, the overhead of the space we occupy is really unsustainable,” said Jennifer Adams-Webb, a museum co-founder and CEO of the September 11th Families’ Association.
Adams-Webb said the museum, which moved to it’s Greenwich St. location in 2017, was greatly affected by the pandemic, closing completely for six months and going from an average of 300,000 visitors before the shutdown to 26,000 in 2021.
“It’s a solvable position. We’ve asked the city, we’ve asked the state, we’ve asked the federal government, but so far no one has been willing to step up,” she said.
Some of the artifacts and materials will be going to the New York State Museum in Albany, with some smaller museums repurposing other exhibit elements, said Adams-Webb.
One major exhibit will have to be dismantled, the photos returned to over 500 people who lost family members on September 11.
“I think the heart of Tribute has always been the family photo album, the gallery that had all of the pictures that were submitted to us by families of their loved ones,” Adams-Webb explained.
“You saw the diversity of their ages and their ethnicities and their backgrounds. It’s really resonated with people, the loss of that day, not just the destruction of buildings.”
“They were trying to stay through September 11th, but we need to vacate by August 31,” said Peter Bitwinski, a former employee of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and survivor of both the 1993 and 2001 attacks who gave tours at the museum.
“The impact on New York might be underestimated,” he said of the museum.
Bitwinski worked for over 23 years in Tower 1 and was on the 69th floor when the building began to shake and a plane slammed into it.
“You clearly knew something bad had happened. It knocked me onto my desk, I’m reeling, I’m in shock,” he recalled.
It took over an hour and a half for him to emerge on the street with the small group he escaped with which included a disabled co-worker they carried to safety.
“We do something that no other place does with person-to-person history. When I finish the walking tour and I’m just chatting, people come up to you and they want to shake your hand, they want to hug you, there’s tears, there’s a lot of emotion.”
“As you get older people have tended to treat 9/11 differently,” said Delaney Colaio, 23, whose father and two uncles were killed on Sept. 11.
Colaio made a documentary about children who lost family members in the attacks called, “We Go Higher.”
“As time goes on things start to get dehumanized as they do with any historical event,” she said. “It’s weird to experience it as a 23-year-old because I experienced it when I was three.
“It’s sad to hear the tribute museum is closing,” Colaio said. “I don’t know if there’s anything to be done, but I’m here to help.”
“It’s a real tragedy. I think it’s unfortunate we’re sort of wiping away history,” said 9/11 survivor Tim Frolich, 58, of Dyker Heights, Brooklyn.
“I understand the financial times and concerns but I think more should be done or should have been done to keep it going,’ he said. “I think it’s equivalent to having a live encyclopedia.”
Frolich was on the 80th floor of the South Tower when United Airlines flight 175 hit about 10 floors above him.
“I was fortunate enough to make it out of the building as the building fell behind me,” he said. “To not have a place especially in the city that will mark and hold the history and continue the tell that story going forward is a real loss.”
A petition linked to the museum’s website had more than 34,000 signatures, some signing even after it closed.
“The 9/11 Tribute Museum, the small, original 9/11 museum that provides Person-to-Person History, connecting visitors to those directly affected by the 9/11 terrorist attacks, is in imminent danger of closure due to pandemic financial hardship. We need immediate help,” read the petition.
“New York’s Governor, Kathy Hochul, and NYC Mayor Eric Adams have the power to save Tribute. Please sign this petition asking these leaders to save the 9/11 Tribute Museum.”
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