Shinnecock Indian Nation

Shinnecocks To Advise World Trade Reconstruction

February 5, 2004

By Selim Algar

Representatives of the Shinnecock Indian Nation Cultural Center and Museum have been invited by the New York State Historic Preservation Office to serve as consultants to represent Manhattan's Native American legacy during the reconstruction of the World Trade Center.

"For centuries, Algonquin people lived, flourished and were buried on this site, and it is vital to be included in its stewardship," said Winonah Warren, the president of the museum's Board of Trustees. Ms. Warren and Edwin C. Garrett, the board's president emeritus, will represent the museum.

Mr. Warren added that Native American steelworkers helped to build the World Trade Center that was felled in the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.

Construction of the towers began in 1966 at an estimated cost of $1.5 billion. One World Trade Center was ready for its first tenants in late 1970, though the upper stories were not completed until 1972. Two World Trade Center was finished in 1973.

Ms. Warren said that the tribe was selected by the preservation office because of its dedication to Native American causes and culture. The museum, Ms. Warren said, serves as a tangible reflection of this image.

The tribe's museum, on Montauk Highway on the tribe's reservation west of Southampton Village, is the only Native American-owned and operated museum on Long Island. The facility is dedicated to presenting more than 10,000 years of Shinnecock history. Museum programs are funded in part by the federal Administration for Native Americans and Southampton Town.

The state Preservation Office is sponsoring and funding three major projects adjacent to the World Trade Center site: the World Trade Center Memorial and Redevelopment Plan, the Permanent World Trade Center PATH Terminal, and the Route 9A Reconstruction. Each of the proposed projects may affect historic properties near the World Trade Center neighborhood bounded by Vesey, Church and Liberty Streets.

Ms. Warren said that the Preservation Office hopes to have the World Trade Center site listed on the National Historical Registry. The office is trying to get a variance from a requirement that a site be at least 50 years old to be eligible for a listing.

Ms. Warren said that the Shinnecocks will seek to establish the area's historical worth through its Native American past as well as the World Trade's Center's brief history.

"The Native American presence at the site predates New York and New Amsterdam," Ms. Warren said. "We feel like this site should be an exception. This was already a historic site even before the World Trade Center."

Museum representatives held a preliminary meeting with the reconstruction project managers Tuesday and will forward their initial recommendations and suggestions early next week. "We will need time to figure out how to approach this," Ms. Warren said.