Final Trade Center Wall Removed

The last standing facade at the World Trade Center site came crashing down Saturday.

It was a somber moment for workers and firefighters as the 50-foot section of the outer wall of the 110-story north tower was brought down.

Both towers of the World Trade Center collapsed Sept. 11 when hijacked commercial jetliners slammed into the buildings, killing more than 3,000 people.

Ironworkers had started to dismantle the structure last week.

Using blowtorches, workers cut away the last remnants by midafternoon Saturday, and crews began carting away the five-story tall fragments for a possible memorial.

It had been anticipated that the facade would come down earlier, but “it turned out to be a much more difficult process than they thought,” Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani said Friday.

Several weeks ago, remnants of the 110-story south tower were removed and saved for a possible memorial.

Christian, Jewish and Muslim leaders prayed and a lone trumpeter played the national anthem.

Firefighters, who lost hundreds of colleagues in their desperate attempt to rescue people from the wounded twin towers before they collapsed, doffed their helmets and bowed their heads amid the rubble field.

Sarah Kershaw, 27, stood among the hundreds of onlookers near the disaster and said it doesn’t really matter what happens to the final piece.

“No matter what the memorial looks like, people will come,” she said.

“When there was a building there, it was a huge attraction. Now there’s no building there and all this sadness, and it’s still an attraction.”