Survivors’ Staircase (Survivors’ Stairs)

The “survivors’ staircase” (or “survivors’ stairs”) of New York City’s World Trade Center are two outdoor flights of granite stairs that people used to escape the WTC during the terrorist attacks of Spetember 11, 2001. The stairs were the last remaining above-ground remnants from the attacks; they were preserved and are part of the 9/11 Memorial Museum.
 
The name “survivors’ staircase” has been cited since at least 2006 and “survivors’ stairs” from at least 2007.
 
   
Wikipedia: Survivors’ Staircase
The Survivors’ Staircase was the last visible remaining original structure above ground level at the World Trade Center site. It was originally two outdoor flights of granite-clad stairs and an escalator that connected Vesey Street to the World Trade Center’s Austin J. Tobin Plaza. During the September 11 attacks, the stairs served as an escape route for hundreds of evacuees from 5 World Trade Center, a 9-floor building adjacent to the 110-story towers. The staircase is now an important feature of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum.
(...)
On March 9, 2008, the Staircase was moved by crane about 200 feet on Vesey Street. In 2010, as construction throughout the World Trade complex reached peak activity level, the staircase - as well as two “tridents” of Twin Tower facade, and other oversize artifacts - was placed into the National September 11 Memorial & Museum space before the Memorial Plaza and museum entrance pavilion were built above it. The staircase is now a major feature of the museum.
 
9/11 Memorial—The Museum Exhibitions
As visitors make their final descent to the exhibition level, they will pass alongside the Vesey Street stair remnant, the historic “Survivors’ Stairs.” On 9/11, hundreds escaped with their lives, fleeing down this stairway. Visitors will also see the remnants of structural columns that now delineate the footprints of the original Twin Towers.
 
Google News Archive
11 May 2006, The Free-Lance-Star (Fredericksburg, VA), “‘Survivors Staircase’ makes list: Remnants of 9/11 in Trust’s grouping” by DevlinBarrett (AP), pg. 1, cols. 3-4:
WASHINGTON—Anyplace else, the scarred concrete steps would be an eyesore. At ground zero on Sept. 11, 2001, they were a last chance for escape. Now they stand as the last surviving above-ground piece of the World Trade Center.
 
The “Survivors Staircase,” as the steps are known, was named as one of the nation’s most endagered historic places yesterday, along with whole swaths of New Orleans and Mississippi damaged byhurricane Katrina.
 
Google Books
American Ruins:
Nostalgia, Amnesia, and Blitzkrieg Bop
By Susan Carol Briante
Ann Arbor, MI: UMI Microform
2007
Pg. 162:
In May 2006, the Trust for Historic Preservation, a private non-profit group, listed the “Survivors’ Stairs,” the last above-ground vestige of the World Trade Center on site, as “one of the nation’s most endangered historic places” demonstrating the vulnerable nature of the tower’s remnants.
 
Google News Archive
23 March 2007, Moscow-Pullman Daily News (Pullman, WA & Moscow, ID), pg. 2A, col. 3:
Indecision on Trade Center survivors’
staircase threatens tower construction
Associated Press
NEW YORK—A prolonged debate over whether to preserve a 175-ton staircase that still stans at the World Trade Center site is threatening construction schedules for new office towers, rebuilding officials said this week.
 
The stiarcase, which several people used to escape the debris-filled complex after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, has been named one of the nation’s most endangered places by a preservation group. It is the only remnant of the complex that is above street level.
 
Google News Archive
12 December 2008, Spartanburg (SC) Herald-Journal, “New York :Survivors’ staircase placed at ground zero,” pg. A4, col. 5:
The “survivors’ staircase” that served as an escape route for people fleeing the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, found a permanent home on ground zero Thursday.
 
The 57-ton staircase was moved by crane across the trade center site to the future entrance of a museum commemorating the 2001 terrorist attacks.
 
The 37 stairs had stood for years as the last remaining above-ground remnant of the original trade center complex.
 
Google News Archive
12 December 2008, The Day (New London, CT), pg. A4, col. 2 photo caption:
SURVIVORS’ STAIRCASE
A staircase from the World Trade Center at ground zero waits to be hooked up to a crane to be moved to its permanent location Thursday in New York. Known as the “survivors’ staircase,” it served as an escape route for people fleeing theWorld Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, and is now being preserved as part of the planned memorial on the site.
 
Google Books
September 11 in Popular Culture:
A Guide
Edited by Sara E. Quay and Amy M. Damico
Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, LLC
2010
Pg. 277:
On the final leg of the journey to bedrock, visitors will descend alongside the “Survivors’ Stairs,” the last standing vestige of the original World Trade Center complex near Vesey Street, which provided an escape route for many on 9/11.
 
Twitter
Alex Bransby
‏@WTCAlex84
The Survivors Staircase once adjacent to Vesey Street by 5 World Trade allowed hundreds of people to escape on 9/11 pic.twitter.com/ZFqEYuoHHr
2:09 PM - 29 Jul 2014
 
Twitter
kristi laking
‏@kristilaking
‘Survivors stairs’ at 9/11 memorial museum. Used to exit WTC. pic.twitter.com/8p97Hx3I0U
3:46 AM - 11 Sep 2014