Pat Squire, on the Simon Benson House porch, in September 2021.
Twenty years ago this week, PSU’s Alumni Relations team was getting ready to celebrate the grand opening of their new home on campus.
The Simon Benson House, a familiar landmark on the South Park Blocks and home of the PSU alumni office, hasn’t always been in its current space. In 2000 the building was moved from its original lot at Southwest 11th and Clay, delivered to its current location, and underwent a comprehensive renovation.
In September, 2001, the house was finally ready for a formal grand opening. Originally planned for Sept. 10, the event was bumped by a TriMet event celebrating the start of MAX train service to the Portland International Airport. So the date was set: Sept. 11, 2001.
“We all remember exactly where we were that day,” says Pat Squire, who served as Associate Vice President for Alumni Relations for 23 years until her retirement in 2011. “I was walking with my husband and we came home and turned on the radio.”
News of planes hitting the World Trade Center towers in New York immediately changed the cast of the day. The elected officials scheduled to give speeches at the Simon Benson House canceled — they were busy making sense of what would become the profound shift in the geopolitical landscape. Alumni team members called each other unsure of how to proceed. The invitations had gone out, the ice tea and cookies had been ordered, the midday event was scheduled to start before the terrible dust had even settled in Lower Manhattan.
The Simon Benson house, pristine for its debut, played host to a different kind of gathering that day.
“It was just a place for people to gather,” recalled Squire. “Many people just wanted to get away from the television and the news and be able to reflect for a while. It was a bittersweet experience to be together like that. But we were able to console a lot of people.”
One woman, sitting on the side patio was in tears, worried for a loved one who worked in the towers. Others were already resolute, expressing their resolve that the attack wouldn’t stop American progress. Downtown neighbors, out walking the Park Blocks, stopped in for company. Despite a range of reactions, many were eager to just be together.
“Even though our big party was a bust, we were glad that we were able to be there that day,” Squire said. “Later that afternoon we were mentally and physically exhausted. There was a lot of hugging and arms around each other for support.”
Squire said the association planned subsequent events to quietly celebrate their new Simon Benson home, but didn’t reschedule another grand opening.
She did notice something different when students returned to PSU’s campus at the end of the month. Following the 9/11 attacks, as she looked out over the Park Blocks from her office in Simon Benson, Squire saw a significant uptick in students carrying cell phones.
“After that, we always had to be in touch with people,” she said. “Students needed to check in. I saw a major difference that fall. Everybody had a cell phone.”