9/11 Memorial & City Hall Artwork

The City of Portsmouth was directly impacted by the 9/11 attacks by the loss of American Airlines’ co-pilot Tom McGuinness, a Portsmouth resident, who was flying American Airlines flight #11, the first plane flown into the tower.

After five years of behind-the-scenes work, the Portsmouth Police Department won approval in 2015 for the City to be one of the recipients of an artifact recovered from the World Trade Center. With a flatbed and driver from Novel Iron Works, the team traveled to the Port Authority at JFK International Airport in New York to collect the 8-foot, 1100 lb. steel beam. Accompanied by a rolling escort from the NY City Police Department, State Police in Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Hampshire, an honor guard from Patriot Guard, Combat Vets and Portsmouth Fire and Police apparatus, the trip took about seven hours. Then a DPW crew hosted the beam into place, where it remains, overlooking South Mill Pond.

ANOTHER 9/11 MEMORIAL -- Sarah Haskell’s artwork, “Each One: The Button Project” displayed in City Hall Council Chambers stands almost 10 feet tall. Regimented rows of 3,116 bone-colored buttons (donated from across the country and stitched in place by an army of volunteers) line up across the dark linen handwoven backdrop as an abstract representation of the Twin Towers. The piece was displayed at the Currier Museum in 2002; then in 2011, the Portsmouth City Council voted to use gifted funds to purchase the artwork in honor and recognition of Evelyn Sirrell, who was Mayor from 1997-2005, including on September 11, 2001. In 2017, the September 11th Memorial and Museum in New York City asked to borrow the piece, where it was displayed until September 2019 when it returned to City Hall.

Councilor Chris Dwyer (left) and artist Sarah Haskell accept “Each One: The Button Project” on behalf of the City.