Printing the History of New York
This article originally appeared in our March 2003 issue. We are republishing it today to mark the 18th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks.
Situated smack in the center of New York's bustling Wall Street area, Trinity Church stands out—a piece of the 18th century peeking out at the 21st. It has seen a lot of changes over the years.
"It's almost like the history of Trinity is the history of New York," remarks Lynn Brewster, manager of Design and Production Services for Trinity Church Wall Street, which serves the Anglican Episcopalian religion.
In fact, Trinity has been around almost since the city's very beginning—and before the country's birth. The land on which it stands was a gift to the parish from England's Queen Anne in 1705. Its oldest structure, St. Paul's chapel, was built in 1766 and was once the tallest building in the city. George Washington had his own pew there. Alexander Hamilton rests in Trinity's churchyard.
On September 11, 2001, Trinity was right in the center of the city's history once again. It was just blocks away from the World Trade Center.
In the confusion after the planes hit, Brewster took her camera to the roof of her building. She had just finished taking pictures of the burning buildings when the first tower crumbled to the ground.
"We pretty much were trying to find a place to breathe for the first 10 minutes," she recalls. It wasn't until she was four blocks away that she realized the towers had fallen. Amazingly, St. Paul's chapel was virtually untouched by the catastrophe.
Trinity played a strong part in the tragedy's aftermath as well, allowing the chapel to be used as a gathering and resting place for recovery workers, or what Brewster calls an "around-the-clock relief ministry."
Her in-plant went into action too, printing posters and cards about the tragedy, encouraging people to maintain their faith. Later, the shop printed a booklet recognizing volunteers. And for the one-year anniversary of the attack, it produced a brochure detailing that day's events at Trinity.
Bob has served as editor of In-plant Impressions since October of 1994. Prior to that he served for three years as managing editor of Printing Impressions, a commercial printing publication. Mr. Neubauer is very active in the U.S. in-plant industry. He attends all the major in-plant conferences and has visited nearly 170 in-plant operations around the world. He has given presentations to numerous in-plant groups in the U.S., Canada and Australia, including the Association of College and University Printers and the In-plant Printing and Mailing Association. He also coordinates the annual In-Print contest, cosponsored by IPMA and In-plant Impressions.
