• 'Things from the heart': Workers at World Trade Center site scrawl graffiti of defiance, hope

    Mark Lennihan / AP, file

    Ironworkers James Brady, left, and Billy Geoghan release the cables from a steel beam after connecting it on the 104th floor of One World Trade Center in New York on Aug. 2, 2012. The beam was signed by President Barack Obama with the words: "We remember," ''We rebuild" and "We come back stronger!" during a ceremony at the construction site June 14. Also adorned with the autographs of workers and police officers at the site, the beam will be sealed into the structure of the tower, which is scheduled for completion in 2014.

    Mark Lennihan / AP

    Graffiti left by visitors to One World Trade Center is seen on a steel column on the 104th floor on Jan. 15, 2013.

    The Associated Press reports — On most construction projects, workers are discouraged from signing or otherwise scrawling on the iron and concrete. At the skyscraper rising at ground zero, though, they're being invited to leave messages for the ages.

    "Freedom Forever. WTC 9/11" is scrawled on a beam near the top of the gleaming, 104-story One World Trade Center. "Change is from within" is on a beam on the roof. Another reads: "God Bless the workers & inhabitants of this bldg."

    The words on beams, walls and stairwells of the skyscraper that replaces the twin towers lost on Sept. 11, 2001, form the graffiti of defiance and rebirth, what ironworker supervisor Kevin Murphy calls "things from the heart." Read the full story.

    Related:

    One World Trade Center rises, providing breathtaking views of Manhattan

    View a panoramic image of the National Sept. 11 Memorial

    Ground Zero ten years later

    Mark Lennihan / AP

    The name Antony is seen on a steel column on the 102nd floor of One World Trade Center on Jan. 15, 2013. Workers finishing New York's tallest building are leaving their personal marks on the concrete and steel in the form of graffiti.

    Mark Lennihan / AP

    A message left by Michael Chertoff, the former director of Homeland Security, on a steel column on the 104th floor of One World Trade Center, seen on Jan. 15, 2013.

    From April 2012: Six years since construction began on 1 World Trade Center, the tower will soon surpass the height of the Empire State Building's roof. The iron workers placing and setting each beam in the shadow of the 9/11 attacks say they are building out of a "sense of necessity" and know that the tower, now soaring nearly 1300 feet, will help the nation and the iron workers themselves heal. Many of the workers building the tower helped clean the smoldering debris in the days after the terrorist attack. Harry Smith reports.

  • Freedom Tower spire arrives in New York City

    Chris Pedota / Pool via Getty Images

    Parts of the spire for the Freedom Tower make their way on a barge to lower Manhattan on Dec. 11 in New York City.

    By NBC News and news services

    Chris Pedota / Pool via Getty Images

    The barge is carrying nine pieces of steel that will eventually top off One World Trade Center at a symbolic 1,776 feet, becoming the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere.

    The pieces that make up the giant spire that will sit atop the World Trade Center's tallest building arrived in New York City on Tuesday.

    A barge carried nine pieces of the 408-foot steel spire across New York Harbor from New Jersey's Port Newark.

    Meanwhile, workers on the 104-story skyscraper were busy pouring concrete that will hold the spire.

    One World Trade Center rises, providing breathtaking views of Manhattan

    The trade center's director of construction, Steven Plate, said the spire marks a post-9/11 milestone that signifies New York City is "better than ever."

    The heaviest piece weighs nearly 70 tons.

    SPI, dbox via Getty Images

    An artist's rendering shows the lower Manhattan skyline as proposed after the construction of the future Freedom Tower, left, and other buildings.

    The spire is expected to rise into the Manhattan sky by spring.

    Plate says the 1,776-foot high-rise — symbolizing America's freedom — will be the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere.

    View a panoramic image of the National Sept. 11 Memorial

    The high-rise is one of five new skyscrapers planned for the new World Trade Center. The project will also include a 9/11 memorial and museum, a transportation hub, 550,000 square feet of retail space and a performing arts center.

    The twin towers of the old World Trade Center collapsed after hijackers flew airplanes into them on Sept. 11, 2001.

    The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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    Six years since construction began on 1 World Trade Center, the tower will soon surpass the height of the Empire State Building's roof. The iron workers placing and setting each beam in the shadow of the 9/11 attacks say they are building out of a "sense of necessity" and know that the tower, now soaring nearly 1300 feet, will help the nation and the iron workers themselves heal. Many of the workers building the tower helped clean the smoldering debris in the days after the terrorist attack. Harry Smith reports.