The Wisconsin 9/11 Memorial & Education Center launched a $4 million capital campaign Wednesday to build a permanent indoor education center next to its outdoor memorial, 25 years after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
The planned 4,500-square-foot building would sit at 1308 Fond du Lac Ave. and replace the former Kewaskum Municipal Annex. Organizers say it would allow school groups, families, veterans, and first responders to visit year-round. The existing outdoor memorial closes in winter when ice and snow cover the paths.
Plans include a central exhibit hall with interactive displays and a multipurpose room for classes and community events. The design uses Twin Towers-inspired elements and a “NEVER FORGET” feature at the entrance. The Kewaskum Village Board has given unanimous conceptual support. The village would keep ownership of the building. Private donations and grants, not local tax dollars, would fund construction. Work would start after fundraising targets are met.
“We are reaching a point where nearly every student who walks through our Memorial was born after September 11th,” said Dr. Mark Bazata, board president of the memorial and superintendent of the Kewaskum School District. “They shouldn’t have to travel a thousand miles to understand what happened that day, who we lost, how Americans responded, and why those lessons still matter.”
The outdoor memorial opened June 13, 2021. Its centerpiece is a 2,200-pound steel beam recovered from the North Tower of the World Trade Center. The beam arrived in Kewaskum in August 2014 after Gordon Haberman and other local residents, including teachers Jerry Gosa and Larry Ammel and then-village administrator Matt Heiser, secured it through the Kewaskum Area Arts Council. Washington County later designated the site as the official county 9/11 memorial. A stretch of State Highway 28 is named the Wisconsin 9/11 Memorial Highway.
The location is tied to Andrea Haberman, a Kewaskum High School graduate. She was 25, working for Carr Futures in Chicago, and on her first business trip when American Airlines Flight 11 struck the North Tower. She was on the 92nd floor. All 69 people in her office were trapped after the stairwells filled with debris. Her body was never recovered. New York City issued a death certificate weeks later. Eighteen people with Wisconsin ties were killed in the attacks.
Gordon Haberman, Andrea’s father, said he visits the memorial several times a week. “I know it’s the 25th anniversary, but you have to understand, for our family and the 2,976 other families, every day is 9/11,” he told WISN this week. “Education is paramount of what this memorial stands for.” On the campaign, he said visitors should leave asking how they can serve — in the military, as firefighters or EMTs, or by volunteering.
In 2024, the outdoor site drew thousands of visitors, including more than 850 students from eight Wisconsin counties. The organization already offers grade-specific lesson materials, field-trip programs, and transportation grants. Earlier fundraising for student visits included a New Year’s Eve 5K that raised more than $41,000. A 2025 project announcement listed a $3 million goal. The campaign made public this week is $4 million.
Organizers pointed to a separate New York City Council decision this month to put $1 million toward free 9/11 Memorial & Museum field trips for city students. Council Speaker Julie Menin said a generation now has little or no memory of the attacks. The Kewaskum board used that announcement to argue Midwest students need a closer option than New York, the Pentagon, or the Flight 93 National Memorial in Pennsylvania.
A 25th-anniversary ceremony is set for 1 p.m. Friday at the outdoor memorial. West Bend native Jessica Kraemer Osenbrugge, who was working in Manhattan on Sept. 11, 2001, and later searched for Haberman, is the keynote speaker. WTMJ host Erik Bilstad will emcee. A bell will ring 25 times. Organizers said they will also update the public on the capital campaign.
Donation information is at wisconsin911memorial.com.
