The story behind Clarksburg’s 9/11 memorial

CLARKSBURG, W.Va. (WBOY) — The anniversary of 9/11 may not be for months, but the FBI Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Division now has a memorial for the attacks, featuring a piece from the World Trade Center itself.

The memorial—which is now open to the public outside of the FBI Visitor’s Center—has been in the works since 2018 and comes from a collaboration between the FBI and the New York 9/11 Memorial and Museum .

“During the design and footprint of the memorial, we wanted to make sure that it was something that was open and available to the public at all times,” Section Chief of the Resources Management Section Giget Kuroski said.

Kuroski said that various elements make up the memorial including a 22-foot steel box column, a six-foot marble monolith representing the north tower, shrubbery and concrete benches representing the other layout from 9/11 and what surrounded the twin towers.

The primary column came directly from one of the towers, but it’s still unknown exactly which tower. A 12 News reporter who visited the memorial said that when you stand and look up the column, you can see the way that the steel bent and melted during that September morning.

After the final design was approved, the FBI broke ground on the memorial in May 2023 and was finished by the following September.

During the 9/11 attacks, West Virginia was hundreds of miles away from the nearest impact location near Shanksville, PA where Flight 93 went down . Despite this, the memorial in Clarksburg hits close to home.

“We have a lot of our employees here on the CJIS campus, as well as our law enforcement locally, that actually answered the call that day,” said Kuroski.

The FBI is set to hold a public memorial dedication ceremony this September. Details have yet to be announced.

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