A town of 301 people is home to a piece of 9/11 history | CNN

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NEW YORK, NY - SEPTEMBER 08: The American flag that was raised by firefighters above the site of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York on 2001 is displayed for the first time at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum after turning up in Washington state two years ago on September 8, 2016 in New York City. The flag was made iconic in a photo of firefighters raising it on the day of the attacks. The flag disappeared from Ground Zero during the site cleanup and was mysteriously turned into a police department by a man who gave his name only as "Brian". Sunday is the 15th anniversary of the terror attacks. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

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Editor’s Note: Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in September 2016. CNN’s Original Series “Soundtracks: The Songs that Defined History,” explores the music that helped the nation heal after the September 11 terror attacks on Thursday at 10 p.m. ET/PT on CNN.

Story highlights

More than 2,600 artifacts were reclaimed from Ground Zero

They were distributed to towns, museums and non-profits around the world

CNN —

Main Street is the only paved road. There’s no general store. Trains pass by, but they never stop. And exactly 301 people live there.

Although Burns, WY. is a speck on the map, it is home to a piece of history.

Sitting on a shelf in an old elementary school is a steel beam from the Twin Towers.

The piece of steel, which was part of the World Trade Center.

Cynthia Shroyer

A 1,700-mile journey

Fifteen years after 9/11, virtually all of the artifacts reclaimed from Ground Zero – ranging from crushed ambulances to crumpled elevator motors – were distributed across the country.

Inside 9/11: The day that never ends

Though most of the pieces reside in the 9/11 Memorial and Museum in Manhattan, some ended up in unexpected places – like a tiny town in Wyoming.

Main Street in Burns, WY.

James Clark

Judy Johnstone was the mayor pro-tem of Burns when she heard that a town could submit an application to receive an artifact from the World Trade Center.

Where Ground Zero remains ended up

More than 2,600 pieces were recovered after the Twin Towers fell

All 50 states received at least one artifact

The rest were given to a few other countries: Brazil, Canada, China, England, Germany, Ireland, Italy and South Korea

“[Residents] were all blown away that … a town of 300 people could get something like this,” she said.

No one from Burns was in the Twin Towers that day in 2001. And many of its residents will never be able to go to Ground Zero or get to visit the museum there.

However, there are many veterans who live in Burns. A piece of history that so profoundly changed America has a particular significance to that community.

“There’s a lot of civic pride here in regards to our veterans,” said Ralph Bartels, current mayor of Burns.

An artist's rendering of the future 9/11 memorial in Burns, WY.

Town of Burns, WY

It took about a year of letter-writing and paperwork to obtain their artifact. The small piece from a steel beam arrived in Burns in March 2011. It’s one of only two 9/11 artifacts in the state of Wyoming.

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Although the piece of steel sits on a shelf for now, it has a more honorable display in its future – as the centerpiece of a new park. It will stand in honor of veterans.

“To be able to touch a piece of the actual history,” Johnstone said, “is something that means a lot to a lot of people.”