NEW YORK (WCBS 880) -- The 9/11 Tribute Museum plans to close permanently after the two-year pandemic devastated its admissions numbers.
The museum, which opened in 2006 as the 9/11 Tribute Center, saw its admissions plummet to 26,000 last year—a drop of 83% from the 150,000 visitors in 2019, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Chief Executive Jennifer Adams-Webb told the paper this week that “the responsible thing is to close, unfortunately.”
While admissions began to improve in December, Adams-Webb said the nonprofit has “kind of been hanging on by a string.”
The museum and its better-known partner, the National September 11 Memorial Museum, were among the many institutions in the city impacted by the pandemic and subsequent shutdowns.
Located on Greenwich Street, just a few blocks south of the World Trade Center, the museum has served as a place where survivors, first responders, recovery workers and others can share their firsthand accounts of the terrorist attacks and their aftermath.
Among them was Lee Ielpi, who lost his firefighter son on 9/11 and went on to found the museum with Adams-Webb.
“Tribute is a way to carry the message that hatred is not the way to go in this world,” Ielpi said. “Who better than me and the other docents to say that to you? Now we’re going to lose it, and that’s a shame.”
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