- Location
- New York
- Current protection
- National September 11 Memorial & Museum (nonprofit foundation)
- Status
- No active campaign
- Tier
- Tier 3 · Smaller national site
- In the book
- Not featured in Undiscovered America
Why should it be a National Park?
At the World Trade Center, two memorial pools fill the footprints of the towers, their edges inscribed with the names of the people killed on September 11, 2001, and in the 1993 bombing. The museum beneath holds the remnants of that day.
The Park System already protects the Flight 93 National Memorial at Shanksville. The place where most of the lives were lost deserves the same national standing.
The history of National Park Campaigns
Two bills have sought national designation. In 2011 a group of New York representatives proposed making the 9/11 Memorial Cross a national monument, and in 2015 Rep. Tom MacArthur's bill designated the memorial a national memorial while keeping it out of the Park System. The Park Service opposed the second bill because it gave the agency no role beyond funding.
- Distinct National Park attempts
- 0
- Other designation attempts
- 2 (2011 monument bill; 2015 national memorial bill)
Sources
- H.R. 2865 (112th Congress)
- H.R. 3036 (114th Congress)
- National Park Service testimony on H.R. 3036 (2015, 2016)
- September 11, 2001
The attacks destroy the World Trade Center.
- September 8, 2011
Rep. Michael Grimm and others introduce H.R. 2865 to establish the 9/11 Memorial Cross as a national monument.
- July 13, 2015
Rep. Tom MacArthur introduces H.R. 3036 to designate the National September 11 Memorial a national memorial, explicitly not a unit of the Park System.
- September 11, 2015
The Park Service testifies against it, noting it provides no federal role in running or interpreting the site.
- 2016
The House passes H.R. 3036; the Park Service again opposes it before a Senate subcommittee on June 15.