For millions around the world, the September 11 attacks remain one of the defining events of the 21st century—an event marked by immense loss, lasting grief, and global consequences that continue to shape the modern world. Although the skyline of New York City has been rebuilt, the crash site near Shanksville has returned to its quiet rural setting, and the Pentagon has long since been repaired, the memory of that day remains deeply present across the United States and far beyond.
Below are nine key facts about the events of September 11.
Ground Zero
You’ve likely seen the image of firefighters raising the American flag at Ground Zero just mere hours after the attack. Today, we commonly refer to the World Trade Center‘s location as “Ground Zero,” but it’s not the first site to carry this designation.
Ground Zero was initially used to describe the locations of atomic bomb detonations, namely the Trinity Test site in New Mexico, Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Three separate locations were attacked on 9/11
New York City, New York, is what comes to mind when you think of 9/11. This is likely due to the media coverage it received. That being said, there were two other locations that were impacted that day: the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania.
United Airlines Flight 93 crashed into a field in Somerset County, Pennsylvania. The hijackers originally intended to crash the airliner into either the White House or the Capitol, but the passengers, having learned of the hijackings in New York, were not about to let that happen – they tried to overtake the aircraft, which led to the aforementioned crash.
The Pentagon was hit at 9:37 AM and suffered severe damage, collapsing in some spots; it took the airliner under a second to penetrate through the building’s rings (about 310 feet in length). The crash sent a fireball into the sky.
An engine from one of the aircrafts survived
Airliners crashed into the Twin Towers. Somehow, between the initial strike, the fires and the eventual collapse of the buildings, an engine from one of them managed to survive. It’s believed to be from United Airlines Flight 175, and it was found blocks from Ground Zero.
$100 million in art was destroyed on 9/11
One thing most people don’t think about when considering the losses incurred on 9/11 is art. Around $110 million in art was destroyed during the attacks, with pieces from the likes of Pablo Picasso and Roy Lichtenstein being lost.
Cantor Fitzgerald
Cantor Fitzgerald suffered one of the most devastating losses of any organization during the September 11 attacks, with more than two-thirds of its workforce killed. The firm’s offices were located on floors 101 through 105 of the World Trade Center, placing its employees directly in the impact zone.
In total, 658 of the company’s 960 personnel lost their lives, representing the largest loss of employees suffered by any single organization on that day.
Three buildings fell on 9/11
Three buildings collapsed in New York City on September 11, 2001. While the destruction of the Twin Towers remains the most widely remembered image of the September 11 attacks, a third skyscraper—7 World Trade Center—also came down later that afternoon.
Located just north of the main World Trade Center complex, 7 World Trade Center suffered extensive structural damage when debris from the collapsing North Tower struck the building. The impact ignited multiple fires across several floors, and with the city’s emergency response focused on the devastation nearby, those fires burned uncontrolled for hours. As the damage worsened throughout the day, concerns grew that the structure would not remain standing.
At approximately 5:20 p.m., after burning for much of the afternoon, 7 World Trade Center collapsed. Unlike the Twin Towers, the building had been evacuated earlier in the day, and no deaths were directly caused by its collapse.
A horrific death toll
It’s reported that 2,996 people died in the attacks on September 11, 2001: 2,977 victims, as well as 19 hijackers. There were more than 6,000 injuries reported, as well.
Below are the death tolls from each location:
- World Trade Center: 2,606 victims.
- American Airlines Flight 11: 87 victims, five hijackers.
- United Airlines Flight 175: 60 victims, five hijackers.
- Pentagon: 125 victims (civilian, military and government personnel).
- American Airlines Flight 77: 59 victims, five hijackers.
- United Airlines Flight 93: 40 victims, four hijackers.
Economic impact of 9/11
It’s believed planning the attack cost the hijackers over $500,000 to plan and coordinate the attack. In the United States, it cost more than $750 million to clean up Ground Zero, and there was more than $9.3 billion in insurance claims.
On top of this, about $60 billion in damages was suffered by the World Trade Center and New York City’s subway system, and over $120 billion was estimated to have been lost in the airline industry and tourism sector.
Where did the steel from the World Trade Center go?
In total, there was 185,101 tons of steel at the site of the World Trade Center. A majority of this was actually sold following the cleanup of the site. China and India were major buyers, with Chinese company Baowu purchasing more than 50,000 tons.
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Any unsold steel was later be used to erect memorials across the United States, with some being included in the construction of the USS New York (LPD-21).