By kaleb points, mark funches, and Aaron Daniel

About the towers The World Trade Center was conceived in the early 1960s by the Downtown-Lower Manhattan Development Association to revitalize the seedy "Radio Row," dominated by electronic stores. Chase Manhattan Bank chairman David Rockefeller, founder of the development association, and his brother, New York governor Nelson Rockefeller, pushed hard for the project, insisting it would benefit the entire city. In 1962, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey began plans to build the center. Minoru Yamasaki Associates of Michigan was hired as architect. Eventually, Yamasaki decided on two huge towers. Critics charged that a modern monolith would rob New York of character, ruin the skyline, disrupt television reception, and strain city services. However, the project was approved and construction began in 1966.

9/11 On the morning of September 11th, terrorists hijacked four commercial jet planes and attempted to fly them into several U.S. targets. One of the planes, American Airlines Flight 11, crashed into Tower One of the World Trade Center at 8:50 AM. United Airlines Flight 175 crashed into Tower Two at 9:04 AM. As the world watched Tower Two collapsed to the ground at about 10:00 AM. Unfortunately, this horrible scene was duplicated at 10:30 AM when Tower One crashed to the ground. This terrorist attack brought about the death of approximately 3,000 men, women and children from nations around the world.

The tribute The beams of light, which emulate the shape and orientation of the Twin Towers, can be seen from sixty miles away. Called Tribute in Lights, the installation was first presented six months after the world trade Center attack. They have been re-created at every 9/11 anniversary since. The beams appear to rise from Ground Zero but are actually shone from a rooftop four blocks away. They originate from 88 giant searchlights split into two 48-foot squares. Shooting four miles into the sky the 7,000 watt lights are considered to be some of the strongest shafts of light ever projected onto the night sky. They were turned on just before sunset on September 11 and were due to be switched off at dawn the following day.

The rebuild