Hilliard residents gathered Sept. 11 at the newly renovated First Responders Park to mark 25 years since the terrorist attacks that killed 2,977 people.

Retired Army Maj. Gen. Deborah Ashenhurst, a Hilliard resident who served more than 37 years in the U.S. Army and Ohio National Guard, was scheduled to deliver the keynote address at the 9 a.m. ceremony. Ashenhurst was the first woman to serve as Ohio's adjutant general, a role she held from 2011 to 2015 commanding 17,000 service members.

The city's ceremony program called for remarks from Hilliard Chief of Police Michael Woods and Norwich Township Fire Battalion Chief Heith Good. Students from Hilliard Darby High School were set to sing the National Anthem and "America the Beautiful," with the Norwich Township Bagpipe Band providing a prelude. The program was to conclude with a wreath-laying at First Responders Park by the joint Hilliard Police-Norwich Fire Honor Guard.

The ceremony began at Station Park in downtown Hilliard during the same hour that witnesses watched the burning towers on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001. Main Street was closed from about 8 to 11 a.m. for the event.

First Responders Park sits at the corner of Main and Center streets. It houses a steel beam from the World Trade Center. In May 2010, a 20-person escort team from Hilliard and Norwich Township traveled to New York City to bring back seven tons of steel for the memorial. Former Norwich Township Fire Chief David Long, who was on that trip, recalled the experience in the city's Fall 2023 newsletter: "It was kind of eerie. It was calm and quiet. I remember the smell – you could smell the rust of the steel."

The names of nearly 2,800 victims are engraved on three granite walls at the park, including 366 first responders from the New York police and fire departments and 37 officers from the New Jersey Port Authority. The park opened Sept. 11, 2010. Hilliard has held an annual ceremony there each year since.

The park underwent a renovation over the summer of 2025, funded by an $800,500 grant from the State of Ohio's One Time Strategic Community Investment Fund. Former State Sen. Stephanie Kunze sponsored the grant. The work included replacing concrete pavement and lighting, repairing trellis supports, and cleaning all granite surfaces and plaques, according to the city's Fall 2025 newsletter. The park was rededicated Sept. 11, 2025.

Woods said in the city's Fall 2025 newsletter, ahead of the rededication: "We're incredibly proud to have this place in our community, and now it will be ready for people to come gather and remember for many more years."

Since 2013, Hilliard police officers have worn a badge featuring an illustration of First Responders Park at its center.