Ravenna to dedicate 9/11 memorial Sunday

Twelve years after bringing a beam from the Twin Towers to Ravenna, the Ravenna Fire Department is finally dedicating a memorial Sunday to the victims of 9/11.

More:Ravenna Fire Department to honor 9/11 with memorial built around World Trade Center beam

Lt. Chris Singleton of the Ravenna Fire Department said the ceremony will take place at 9 a.m. Sunday in front of the fire station at 214 S. Park Way, Ravenna. The ceremony was set at 9 a.m. to avoid a conflict with Streetsboro's ceremony, which begins at 9:55 a.m.

Singleton said the fire department had been planning the memorial since 2010, when the department obtained a section of steel from the World Trade Center. The section of steel, about 2 feet in length and weighing about 110 pounds, had been held as evidence in New York since 2001. The fire department came into possession of it through a website that agreed to send it to them as long as it was used for a memorial. It was shipped to Ravenna via UPS.

The fire department has been working since then to finalize plans for a memorial, but they didn't come together until last year, when the department launched a fundraising campaign in honor of the 20th anniversary of the attacks. The campaign still is ongoing, and has raised about half of its $11,000 goal.

At one point, a masonry class at the Maplewood Career Center was to build the memorial, but those plans fell through when a teacher retired. In the interim, the beam made the rounds at fairs, festivals and school presentations, including a 9/11 memorial parade in Mantua.

The memorial was designed by Ravenna architect Ted Manfrass and built by Hummel Construction. The flagpole was reset on a concrete pad in a pentagon shape, and a bell from the department's early days covers the beam.

"The bell covering the beam was Ravenna's first fire bell," Singleton said. "When they used to have the horse drawn carriages go out to fight the fires, this was the bell that alerted all the volunteers that there was a fire."

Sunday's ceremony will include an honor guard from the Fraternal Order of Police; the National Anthem sung by Mallory Hall, wife of Capt. Ryan Hall; and the playing of "Taps" by a bugler from the Ravenna VFW post.

Those who plan to attend the ceremony are asked to RSVP on Facebook.

Reporter Diane Smith, who wrote a story about the beam coming to Ravenna in 2010, can be reached at 330-298-1139 or dsmith@recordpub.com.