Across Jersey City, the physical landscape bears profound markers of September 11, 2001, preserving the memory of those who lost their lives while honoring the community's critical role as a sanctuary during one of the nation's darkest hours. As New Jersey's second-largest city, the municipality holds a unique geographic and emotional connection to the attacks that unfolded across the Hudson River.
The human toll of that morning was immense for the Garden State, which lost approximately 750 residents among the more than 2,970 individuals killed when hijacked airliners struck the World Trade Center towers, the Pentagon, and crashed in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Within Jersey City itself, memorial rosters originally honored 38 local residents who perished, a figure that has since been officially updated to 39.
To ensure those names and sacrifices are never forgotten, three major commemorative sites were established across the city: the Jersey City 9/11 Memorial along the downtown waterfront, the memorial plaza at Journal Square, and the expansive Empty Sky Memorial situated in Liberty State Park near the historic Central Railroad Terminal of New Jersey.
Beyond honoring the dead, these locations reflect Jersey City's vital wartime role as a primary point of rescue and medical evacuation. In the chaotic hours following the collapse of the Twin Towers, thousands of injured survivors fled Lower Manhattan by boat, crossing the river to the Jersey City waterfront, where emergency teams transformed the shoreline into a sprawling emergency triage center.
Local first responders labored under extreme conditions to provide urgent care to the steady stream of arriving evacuees. Among them was Jersey City emergency medical technician Carlos Garrafa, who worked on the waterfront for 15 consecutive hours before answering an urgent call for mutual aid directly at Ground Zero in Lower Manhattan.
Garrafa was subsequently reassigned to the Staten Island Terminal to assist incoming casualties before finally returning to Jersey City the following day, where he was greeted with public praise. Reflecting on the heavy emotional aftermath, Garrafa noted that despite receiving a hero's welcome, he struggled with feelings of whether it was deserved, ultimately finding peace in the realization that responders gave everything they could under unprecedented circumstances.
The downtown waterfront memorial stands precisely where municipal leaders, led by then-Mayor Glenn Cunningham, organized first responders to receive and treat the injured coming off ferries. Mayor Cunningham, who died in 2004, dedicated the permanent monument on the first anniversary of the attacks in September 2002.
The site is composed of three central elements that blend historical artifact with artistic tribute. At its core is the "Twisted Mangle," a structural monument formed from recovered World Trade Center steel girders welded into the shape of the letter "A," positioned alongside an inscribed black granite slab bearing the names of the city's victims.
Completing the downtown site is the "Makeshift Memorial," created in 2004 by sculptor John Seward Johnson II. The artwork is a direct replica of Johnson's 1982 bronze sculpture "Double Check," which stood in Lower Manhattan and spontaneously evolved into an impromptu shrine covered in tributes and flowers after the towers fell.
Each year, civic leaders, survivors, and residents gather at the downtown waterfront for a solemn morning ceremony. The observance begins shortly before the exact moment when the first hijacked aircraft struck the North Tower, continuing a decades-long tradition of morning remembrance.
A few miles inland, the memorial at Journal Square carries a distinct history intertwined with municipal development. The site originated in 1994 as a decorative public fountain during Mayor Bret Schundler's administration, but ongoing mechanical problems led officials to rededicate the installation in 2002 as a dedicated memorial to Jersey City's 9/11 victims.
Local television personality Pat O'Melia organized the plaza's inaugural remembrance gathering in 2002 and subsequently spearheaded the creation of the Circle of Honor, an installation of engraved stones encircling the fountain to celebrate individuals who made significant civic contributions to the community.
However, the Journal Square site has experienced significant disruption amid urban development. Construction initiated in 2022 on the Journal—a massive two-tower residential complex by Kushner Companies formerly known as One Journal Square—ultimately led to the removal of the fountain and its surrounding honor stones.
The loss of the physical fountain introduced a stark irony to the neighborhood, as modern twin luxury towers rose above the space previously dedicated to the victims of the fallen World Trade Center. Prior to construction, community advocates had sought formal assurances from municipal leadership and developers to safeguard the fountain and the Circle of Honor within the redesigned plaza.
Despite ongoing urban changes and the passage of time, Jersey City’s network of commemorative spaces continues to serve as an enduring testament to the lives lost, preserving the solemn history of a community that stepped forward to provide refuge when its neighbors needed it most.
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