COATESVILLE—As the sun rose Saturday morning, it marked the 20th Anniversary of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. A crowd gathered at the National Iron and Steel Heritage Museum in Coatesville, at the site of a colossal steel “trident.” The steel trident is one of the structural beams that held up the first nine floors of the North and South World Trade Center Towers.

It was here in Coatesville that the steel beams were created at Lukens Steel Company in 1969, expected never to return. However, after that fateful day, they were brought home to Coatesville to erect a monument honoring all the lives lost in the attack.

The crowd came together for the museum’s “Coatesville Remembers 9/11 Commemorative Service.” The event hosted a series of bell ringings on the moments in time that the attacks were committed. Readings, poems and historical accounts were presented alongside musical segments by the Lukens Band. This year federal, state and local elected officials were in attendance to reflect.

Senator Carolyn Comitta said, “Today these tridents made here in Coatesville, stand as a testament to history. As a memorial to all those we’ve lost and a reminder of what we can stand when we are united as one.

As the horrors of 9/11 unfolded, it was the lasting image of the steel tridents still standing in the destruction, that left an indelible image in the minds of those who viewed them. In 2010, the tridents were returned to the city in which they were made, and stand today with great pride, as the center to the National Iron and Steel Heritage Museum.

U.S. Representative Chrissy Houlahan said, “As we remember that infamous day, please let us continue to honor the memory of our fallen Americans by being our better selves, and by never tiring of answering that call to serve.”

The same theme continued throughout the speeches of the day. That theme was the great appreciation felt for the unfaltering perseverance of first responders and the community comradery that developed on September 11, 2001.

Representative Dan Williams said, “We should remember something that was modeled on that day 20 years ago; on that tragic day, our humanity became more important than our political party. We realized that our coming together was the call of that moment, and that by god’s grace we were able to do that. In this moment we will go back to the model of that day and remember what it means to be champions of a common group, to come together and heed that call.”

The WTC steel trident is a permanent display at the museum and open to visitors from Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.