A steel beam pulled from the ruins of the World Trade Center stands in a Crescent Springs park, marking 25 years since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks killed nearly 3,000 people. Among them was Brian Patrick Williams, a Northern Kentucky native who grew up in Edgewood and Park Hills.

Williams was 29. Born in Covington in May 1972, he attended St. Pius Elementary School in Edgewood and Covington Catholic High School in Park Hills, where he played varsity basketball and football and ran track. He earned an economics degree from Columbia University in New York City, then took a job at Cantor Fitzgerald, a financial services firm with offices on floors 101 through 105 of the north tower, according to a column by Paul A. Tenkotte in the Northern Kentucky Tribune's "Our Rich History" series.

At 8:46 a.m. on Sept. 11, 2001, a hijacked plane struck the north tower between the 94th and 98th floors, destroying every stairway above the impact zone. The tower collapsed at 10:28 a.m. Cantor Fitzgerald lost all 658 of its employees in the building, the largest loss by any single organization in the attacks, Tenkotte wrote.

A separate marker at the Northern Kentucky 9/11 Memorial in Crescent Springs bears Williams' name. His name also appears on panel N-41 of the National September 11 Memorial in New York City, according to the memorial's online registry.

The Crescent Springs memorial sits in Crescent Springs Community Park, also known as Lou Hartfiel Memorial Park. Completed in 2015 after 3½ years of fundraising, it was dedicated on Sept. 11, 2015.

An authentic I-beam recovered from Ground Zero anchors the site. Local firefighters secured the beam, and Iron Workers Local 44 placed it at the memorial, according to the City of Crescent Springs. Two vertical stones depict the twin towers. The base is shaped as a pentagon, honoring five groups affected by the attacks: firefighters, police, the airline industry, civilians and the Pentagon.

Words etched into the memorial read: "It started as a beautiful day on the East Coast of the United States. Not a cloud in the sky. By the end of the day things had changed."

Tenkotte, a professor of history at Northern Kentucky University and editor of the Tribune series, called it "an emotionally-moving monument."

Upcoming

A Tunnel to Towers 5K Run & Walk is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 12, at Lou Hartfiel Memorial Park in Crescent Springs, in connection with the 25th anniversary.