This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Arts & Entertainment

Bayside Historical Society To Open 9/11 Retrospective Exhibit

Photos, Artwork And Letters From Locals Will Be On Display

To commemorate the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attack, the Bayside Historical Society on Sept. 7 will launch a multi-discipline exhibit featuring everything from a sculpture to an interactive panel to some striking photos of Downtown Manhattan as one of the Twin Towers fell down.

BHS will display a series of 11 photographs that Louis Mendez took from a spot on Manhattan’s West Broadway which had a clear view to
the World Trade Center. The retired art professor depicts an empty street with the Twin Towers in the background in the first snap. The following images show the street filling up with panicked individuals running from the inferno. A final shot captures the second tower as it “falls to the ground like an elevator,” he said.

Mendez told Patch that he was honored to donate the photos to BHS. “It was a historic event,” he said. “I was lucky to be able to see and
record the event.”

Find out what's happening in Bayside-Douglastonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The sculpture that will be on view, an alabaster eagle head entitled “Heroes,” also has a 9/11 theme. Ira L. Olson, a South Dakota artist whose mother survived the brutal firebombing of the German city Dresden during World War II, created it as a tribute to the general heroism of first responders. He etched the names of rescue workers who died responding to the 9/11 attack in glass onto the figure.

Olson first presented “Heroes” to the New York City Fire Department. BHS has it on loan, according to Alison McKay, BHS exhibit coordinator and archivist.

Find out what's happening in Bayside-Douglastonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

There will also be a decidedly local flair, as the exhibit will include thank-you letters and artwork that school children had posted at Engine Co. 306 in Bayside and Engine Co. 313 in Douglaston in the days following 9/11.

Plus, local streets that were renamed after 9/11 victims will appear on a 4’-by-3’ panel, along with a list of all the residents of the general Bayside area who died on that day. There will also be a sampling of
articles that the New York Times, New York Post and other daily newspapers ran in the aftermath, plus a space for visitors to write their thoughts.

BHS is located in Fort Totten Park. Gallery hours are from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Thursdays and Fridays, and from noon to 4 p.m. on Sundays. This exhibit presently has no end date. For more information, call 718-352-1548 or visit baysidehistorical.org.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?

More from Bayside-Douglaston