Alfred P. Murrah Building Destroyed 14 Years Ago Today
A lot has changed in the world in the 14 years since the Oklahoma City Bombing. Tomorrow marks the 10th Anniversary of the Columbine Shootings. It has been nearly 8 years since 9/11. Shootings seem almost commonplace these days.
This August marks the 23rd anniversary of the Post Office shootings in the Oklahoma City suburb of Edmond. That day 14 were killed and six others were injured. The shooter took his own life. I was about to begin my sophomore year at the University of Oklahoma. By 1995, when the Alred P. Murrah Federal Building was bombed, I had been living in St. Louis for nearly 5 years.
I knew the building well. It opened on March 2nd, 1977, two days after my 10th birthday. The late 1970s was a year of transition for many cities. Oklahoma City, like St. Louis, sought to be on the cutting edge by razing large areas, creating formidable superblocks, and constructing new buildings that were hostile to pedestrians.
Later that same year the once magnificent 33-story Billtmore Hotel was imploded. I cried that day. The block that had contained the Biltmore was combined with 3 others to create asuperblock. Ditto for the four blocks to the East. Thank you I.M. Pei.
The Murrah Federal building was on the opposite side of downtown. Not part of a superblock, the building did consume an entire city block. Like most buildings of this era, it was brutal and demeaning to the sidewalk.
The tower was heavily damaged in the bombing so what remained was imploded a month later. But part of what made the building so horrible remains as part of the memorial. The Southern half of the block was a raised plaza (Plaza = Pretty Lame Area with Zero Activity). The plaza was above the sidewalk level like so many of the time. It was also too large and too boring. Today it serves as a vantage point for viewing the memorial.
The building itself occupied less than half the block, the remain part of the block held the plaza which still exists. The memorial is very well done.
Almost done well enough to accept the closing of 5th Street. Almost.
But while I didn’t like the building the bombing was not at all how I imagined it going away.
For more info on the memorial check out the official site and a few more of my pics on Flickr.
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I have absolutely know history in Ok city, but this has to be one of the most beautiful memorials I have ever witnessed. The museum is a little over the top, but takes nothing away from the this tranquil and simply tasteful homages paid to those that died there. I strongly encourage anyone going through to stop and give it a little time. I really liked th idea of the bid old tree that bore witness and continues to overlook the spot.
I was a freshman at Bishop McGuiness High School (I ended up graduating from Classen SAS), I was walking to religion class and we felt and heard the low rumble of the explosion. Most thought it was a student on the roof running around, I knew, felt it was something different. My father was further away almost at Reno and MacArthur, but because it was a good Oklahoma flat land straight shot from downtown the explosion was much louder and the concussion blew the front doors open to the office building he was working in. The local news in typical news fashion promptly reported that three or four buildings had exploded downtown. I still can’t shake the sound of all the kids crying because they thought their parents were in the buildings. Fortunately, none of the students lost anyone. Unfortunately, my church St. Charles lost two out of the same family. Tragic event and it shaped the man (Marine) I would become. Not to get too political but that day (and my service in the Marine Corps) is why I have no problem with the recent intel brief from the Department of Homeland Security.