Over Forty years ago, the last trainload carrying the structural shapes (known as "trees") destined for the World Trade Center in New York City pulled out of Lukens Steel in Coatesville, PA.  They were the last, of many, which would frame the first nine floors and soaring lobbies of the North and South Towers of the world's tallest buildings at that time.

As the horrors of 9/11 unfolded, it was the lasting images of the "trees" still standing which would etch an indelible image in the minds of those who viewed them. The trees became the icons of the tragedy.

Little could anyone fathom in 1969 that those same "trees" would once again be returning to Coatesville some four decades later, to become the centerpiece of The National Iron and Steel Heritage Museum in Coatesville. Steel shapes no longer, but now respected relics of one of our nation's worst national nightmares.