WORLD TRADE CENTER PHOTOS
Photos by Robert Swanson of the World Trade Center tragedy of 9/11/01
Click on thumbnails below to view enlargements
On the morning of September 11,
2001 I was commuting into New York City from Long Island.
9-11-01 was a gorgeous late summer day with a cloudless
sky that would soon turn incredibly ugly.
When the LIRR train I was riding reached Jamaica, Queens the conductor announced there might be some delays because he had just received a report that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. At the time I believed (along with many others on the train) that it may have been an "accident" involving a small private plane. Bo, a fellow commuter from my hometown, who was sitting across from me looked my way and we both nodded in agreement as to the "small plane accident" scenario so we both went back to reading our papers. At the time we had no inkling of the enormity of the tragedy that was then unfolding.
When the train reached Penn Station I said goodbye to Bo, and I recall him saying to me "stay safe". I said I will and that he should do the same. He headed uptown while I boarded a subway train which was heading downtown to my final destination at Franklin Street. When the train reached the 23rd St. station it halted and about 5 minutes later the Motorman announced that the train was being taken out of service and everyone should leave the train. When I got above ground at 23rd St. and 7th Avenue I had a clear view south to the World Trade Center where in the distance the North Tower was then engulfed in smoke intermingled with the smallest flickering of flames. The extent of the smoke was a total shock to me. I had a digital camera with me and I proceeded to take the photos which appear here.
At that time I did not know that the South Tower had already collapsed. Ordinarily the North Tower would have obstructed the view of the South Tower from where I was located. I also did not realize at that time that the Towers had both been hit by highjacked commercial airliners.
As I continued
south along 7th Ave. I soon
came to St. Vincent's Hospital in Greenwich Village where
medical personnel were waiting in the street to attend
the
ambulances bearing the
injured. The tragic irony of this scene was that there
were not as many ambulances arriving as might have been
expected considering the horrific nature of the events.
Indeed there appeared to be more doctors standing in the
street than there were injured to attend to.
As I continued walking further south into the Village I took the following sequence of photos:
The second and third photos from the left were taken just moments before the North Tower started to collapse. In the fourth photo it is half-way collapsed and it was at that point that I realized the South Tower was not visible! My shock and those around me was enormous. I was looking through my viewfinder at the time and I could not believe what I was seeing!
It was only right after this that I spoke with someone who told me that two planes apparently had intentionally crashed into the buildings. The reactions of people were varied. Some were calm, some were weeping hysterically, others were in complete amazement, while others seemed to be intent on leaving the scene.
I ventured a
little farther south where I took this photo of the
Woolworth Building which was then engulfed with
smoke blowing east from the WTC, but its upper Gothic
spires remained visible. It is ironic to note that for
many years the Woolworth Building was the tallest
building in the world.
I passed a storefront where people had entered to view the news on the TV the storeowner had mounted on a shelf. At that time someone walked past me telling people that St. Vincent's Hospital was asking for blood donations. I then heard someone say that there was a report that a plane had crashed into the Pentagon and that a bomb had gone off in front of the U.S. Supreme Court Building in Washington.
It was at this time I decided it was best to head north and away from any tall buildings. I headed west towards the Hudson River where there was stream of people walking north while emergency vehicles were heading north and south on the river causeway. Many of the people walking north had apparently escaped from the WTC, with some of them walking near me covered in dust and debris. These two photos depict the emergency vehicles rushing along this route:
At about this time I tried to make some calls on my cell phone but was not able to get through to anyone. Most other people around me had the same problem. The payphones also appeared to be out of order. Others who had radio phones were getting through, including one kind soul who allowed me to place a call home to tell everyone that I was safe.
As I headed north I looked back south to record the following pictures and images of the scenes:
The photo on the left is the Travelers Building on Greenwich Street, the two photos in the middle are of the "river" of people evacuating to the north, and the fourth photo is a marshalling area the police had set up for themselves.
I then learned that the bridges and tunnels out of the City were shutdown so my plan then became to get to the NY Athletic Club on Central Park South. Once there I figured I could change into jogging gear and cross over into Central Park away from any tall buildings, and where I thought I would be safe from any further explosions. I also figured I could take a room at the Club for the night in the event I could not make it back to Long Island.
Once I got to the AC I went into the TV room where many members were gathered and where for the first time I got the information about what was happening all around us. We subsequently learned that the Club lost 22 members in this tragic event.
I soon crossed over into Central Park
where I walked to the great expanse of lawn in the Sheep
Meadow where the scene was surreal. As I said at the
beginning the weather that day
was
phenomenal. There were people scattered all around the
lawn. Many were in summer attire like myself. What
made the scene so surreal was the quietness which would
occasionally be interrupted by the high-pitched staccato
sound of emergency vehicles heading to some place beyond
the Park and the occasional roar of a jet fighter
streaking low overhead. It occurred to me that the
Park was a sanctuary from which I should not venture.
I proceeded to walk to one of my favorite
spots in the Park, the plaza near the band shell at the
end of Poet's Walk. I sat on a bench by the plaza
which ordinarily would be populated by an assorted group
of roller-bladers (some of whom dance
professionally in Broadway
shows) who on any other day would be putting on a
freelance ballet-like performance that could easily
distract one from the work-a-day world of 9 to 5. The
bladers however were not there that day, only people
walking by with numb expressions on their faces. I
decided to remain nonetheless because the sun shining
down on me had a strange way of making me not concentrate
on what was obviously such a horrendous event.
I must have stayed in the Park about two hours before I learned that it might be possible to make it back to Long Island by train. I headed back to the AC, changed my clothes, and headed for the subway where the platform for the N train to Queens was packed with people. The packed platform struck me as a dangerous place to be.
I then decided to head up to the street and take a bus to the 59th Bridge which I was told you could walk across into Queens...which I proceeded to do. The following photos were taken as I walked across the 59th Street Bridge:
The photo on the right shows the Fox Navigation Fast Ferry heading down the East River to assist in the evacuation of people from Manhattan. I subsequently learned at a ceremony honoring the crew and staff of the ferry that it and its sister ferry evacuated over 2,200 people to Glen Cove (Long Island) from Manhattan after making repeated round-trips (which included transporting emergency workers and supplies on the trip back to Manhattan). Sadly five of the injured the ferry transported to Glen Cove died enroute.
As we walked off the bridge there was a large assortment of police, Salvation Army, Red Cross, local storeowners, and just plain folk who were offering water, food, and other assistance to the tired and weary escaping Manhattan. Once in Queens I was able to connect with the LIRR back to my home on Long Island. Once back in my hometown I stopped into McGory's where I ran into some friends who like myself had made it back from the city that day and were giving their own accounts of that dreadful day. I also went to visit my parents (my father Harold Swanson was a fireman who served 26 years with the FDNY and is now retired) who I was especially happy to see.
911 was a day that I will remember the
rest of my life. We all will.
UNION SQUARE MEMORIAL TO WTC VICTIMS
Since the awful events of 9/11 I have retraced my footsteps of that day and attempted to take photos from the same locations where I took the above photos. Those "after" photos will be posted here in the near future.
Peace Rally Photos - NYC 2/15/03
Photos from the 1st Anniversary - 9/11/02
E-mail: photo@internet-esq.com
All the photos appearing on this
webpage were taken
with the Canon
Power Shot Pro90 IS digital camera