Shanksville

Shanksville, borough (1990 pop. 235), in Somerset co., SW Pa., on the Stonycreek River, which is spanned by an 1881 covered bridge. Shanksville is situated in an agricultural area where corn, oats, livestock, and dairy animals are raised. During the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, which destroyed the World Trade Center and damaged the Pentagon, a Boeing 757 aircraft crashed into a wooded hillside just outside of Shanksville, killing 45. Heading from Newark, N.J., to San Francisco, United Airlines Flight 93 had been taken over by Al Qaeda hijackers and flown toward Washington, D.C. It was later determined that several passengers, aware of the other attacks, had sought to overpower the hijackers, resulting in loss of control of the plane and the crash, thus saving untold lives at the unknown target. The events of that day changed Shanksville from a sleepy village to a hub for visitors to the memorial that now marks the crash site.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

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