T.R. Jarrett of Independence, Mo., looks at the beams from the World Trade Center on display at the Dole Institute of Politics. KU has discovered the two beams came from Tower One and provided support to floors 58 through 61.

When Kansas University’s Dole Institute of Politics received two large steel beams from the World Trade Center wreckage, the only thing known was that they’d been pulled from the rubble of Ground Zero.

Six years after the attacks, KU has learned the two beams were placed into Tower One when it was built and provided support to floors 58 through 61. American Airlines Flight 11 struck Tower One between the 93rd and 99th floors.

“We received the information on the columns thanks to the efforts of (former) chairman of the KU department of civil and environmental engineering Stan Rolfe,” said Jonathan Earle, Dole Institute interim director. Rolfe knew engineer John Barsom, who had studied the collapse of the towers and was able to determine where the beams came from.

Former Kansas Sen. Bob Dole received the beams as a thank you from New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg for his efforts to raise money for the Families of Freedom Scholarship Fund, which provides scholarships to the financially needy children of those who were killed or disabled in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Barsom came to KU in 2006 and studied markings on the beams. The beams, which are coated with jet fuel and other debris, are in clear cases. They frame a stained glass depiction of the American flag. The beams and the flag dominate Hansen Hall, where the institute displays its exhibits and where most of its programs take place.

“Barsom’s keen eye has given the institute’s memorial a new poignancy as we recall the sixth anniversary of that horrible day,” Earle said.