Key Bridge memorial stands strong as museum looks to showcase part of it in future exhibition
A memorial paying homage to the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse victims remains a central piece of the mourning and reflection process.
Roberto Marquez, an artist from Dallas, Texas, put together a mural along Fort Smallwood Road. He first drove to Baltimore a few days after the collapse.
Nearly a year after creating the mural, Marquez said all he wanted to do was do something special for the victims' families. Six construction workers were killed after the DALI cargo ship crashed into the Key Bridge on March 26, 2024.
The construction workers who died were identified as Alejandro Hernandez Fuentes, Dorlian Castillo Cabrera, Maynor Suazo-Sandoval, Miguel Luna, Jose Lopez, and Carlos Hernandez.
The memorial's beginnings
Roberto Marquez said the decision to go to Baltimore came fast.
"It was a place I used to live in, this is [dealing with] construction workers," Marquez said, detailing what caught his attention about the collapse.
With the help of the group Los Yonkes, Marquez erected six crosses to honor the six men who died. Each cross was decorated with hard hats and the flags of each victim's birth country.
Marquez also decided to paint the mural to "tie it all together." For him, it was always about honoring the victims and creating something for their families.
"Maybe distract them from the pain. That is difficult to do, but [to say] in a way, 'We understand you're going through a difficult time, but here we are,'" Marquez said. "Maybe it helps."
Over time, the memorial became a gathering hotspot, hosting numerous vigils.
Marquez started building a relationship with the victims' families, as well as numerous local organizations and institutions.
Collaborating with Baltimore museum
One of the institutions Marquez started talking to was the Baltimore Museum of Industry.
BMI is working to create an exhibit on the Key Bridge, and part of it will feature the memorial's first mural.
The exhibit won't be ready until 2027 -- the three-year mark of the collapse -- and the museum got a grant of more than $500,000 from the Baltimore Community Foundation to help create it.
However, BMI is looking to raise more than $1 million for the exhibit.
Chelsea Redding, BMI's director of marketing communications, said the museum recently lost some federal funding that was supposed to go toward the exhibit. BMI is now looking into alternative funding.
"[The Key Bridge is] a very, very important part of how we are structured as a workplace in Baltimore city. Its collapse really impacted the Port of Baltimore and, for a moment there, the eyes of the world were on Baltimore as an important port city," Redding said.
As the exhibit comes together, the memorial will continue to live on Fort Smallwood Road.
"I've been doing this in different places, different situations, sometimes I had no idea what was going to happen," Marquez said. "But what I do know is that I can help in those difficult moments."
