Haudenosaunee Ironworkers: 8 Years After the ‘Top-Off’
Written by Jeremy Zafran on 10 May 2021
Haudenosaunee men first stepped onto the iron in the 1880’s. According to a story from online source, “Indian Country Today,” back then Mohawks in Quebec were hired as teamsters to deliver iron and construction materials by horse drawn wagons and after unloading they would climb the iron structures looking to see what all the commotion was about. They were then hired as ironworkers and bridge workers, because they seemed to be unaffected by heights.
On this day 8 years ago, the spire was placed atop the brand-new Freedom Tower in New York City. 4 Kahnàwake Ironworkers were on hand to help with the work. Brooklyn Local 361 Ironworker Randy Jacobs was working on one of the cranes:
“It was like any other day, but there were a lot more people up there because it was a monumental time, the last piece was like, to me, it was just another job well done. We completed another job, it was like a ‘topping-up party’ almost, but there were a lot of people that were up there, like all the Port Authority people. To me it was just like another “topping-up party,’ like another reason to celebrate.”
Jacobs was working in New York City on September 11th, 2001, only he was at the AOL Time Warner Building in Columbus Circle. That is when the twin towers were brought down. He then spent the next three days volunteering in the rescue efforts at the downed towers site. The topping up brought him back:
“There were a couple of times that were like that because I was there as a part of cleaning up, my ex-father-in-law, Alan Delaronde, he worked on the original one and my father worked on it only for a couple of months, he was in-between jobs, it was cool. Like every time I kind of felt like that, you look over and it was to the south of the actual World Trade Center one now, and you can see the holes, so ya you get a look at that and a lot of people died there, then you you know, you think about it, the clean-up always here always cleaning up and all the other buildings that were kind of damaged.”
The beam that went in place at the exact height of the former twin towers was signed by President Barrack Obama, meanwhile, the 68 ton antenna that topped off the tower, passed right by Kahnawà:ke on the back of a ship in October, 2012.
