Thursday, October 1, 2026
Twenty-five years after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, reminders of the people Baldwin lost can be found on streets throughout the community.
Ten members of the Baldwin community were killed on Sept. 11, 2001. In the years that followed, other Baldwin residents, including first responders and others exposed to the World Trade Center site, died after battling 9/11-related illnesses.
Across the community streets have been dedicated in their memory, turning familiar corners into lasting memorials.
In April 2003, Tennyson Avenue was dedicated as Brian G. McAleese Place in honor of the 36-year-old New York City firefighter and father of four who was killed in the line of duty on Sept. 11. Nearly 100 people attended the ceremony to unveil the street sign bearing his name.
The McAleese family moved to Tennyson Avenue in 1973, and his mother, Ann Marie, was still living there at the time of the attacks.
“He loved to be a fireman,” Dawn McAleese, Brian’s widow, told the Herald in 2001. “[Brian] said, ‘When we go to work, we don’t know if we’re coming home that night.’”
In March 2011, Silver Lake Place was dedicated in tribute to Terrence J. Manning, 36, who grew up on the street. Manning, a father of two daughters and a computer consultant, was attending a conference in the World Trade Center’s north tower when the attacks occurred.
Perhaps the most recognizable name memorialized on a Baldwin street is Bob Beckwith, the retired FDNY firefighter who became a symbol of the nation’s resilience after Sept. 11.
Beckwith had been retired for seven years when he went to Ground Zero on Sept. 14, 2001, to help search for the missing son of his longtime friend Jimmy Boyle.
There, Beckwith stood alongside President George W. Bush atop a damaged fire truck as Bush addressed rescue workers through a bullhorn. With Bush’s arm around Beckwith, the moment was captured in photographs and video seen around the world.
Away from the image that made him famous, Beckwith remained deeply rooted in Baldwin. He and his wife, Barbara, settled on Fairview Avenue after marrying in 1957 and raised six children there. He attended St. Christopher’s Church and spent time at Baldwin American Legion Post 246.
Beckwith died Feb. 4, 2024, at age 91 after battling melanoma attributed to his Ground Zero exposure. The Town of Hempstead later renamed Fairview Avenue in his honor.
At Beckwith’s funeral, former U.S. Rep. Peter King remembered him as one of a kind. “I want to say that no one is indispensable,” King said in his eulogy. “Bob Beckwith is indispensable.”
Baldwin’s street dedications have also come to reflect the continuing toll of Sept. 11.
In June 2025, Parkview Place was dedicated as George Tripptree Way, for a Baldwin native and retired FDNY firefighter who died Sept. 23, 2022, at age 70 from World Trade Centerrelated illnesses.
Tripptree spent much of his FDNY career with Ladder 173 and Engine 275. After his death, his family requested donations to the Ray Pfeifer Foundation, which assists first responders and others with medical needs.
Nearly 25 years after the attacks, the names on Baldwin’s streets serve as permanent reminders that the community’s losses did not end on Sept. 11 — and neither did its commitment to remembering them.
To read more from the Herald's Remembering 9/11, 25th anniversary special section, click here.
