The story
The Murrah Federal Building opened on March 2, 1977, a reinforced-concrete office building designed by Stephen H. Horton and Wendell Locke and built by the J.W. Bateson Company for $14.5 million. It was named for Alfred P. Murrah, a federal judge and Oklahoma native. By the 1990s it held about 550 employees from agencies including the Social Security Administration, the Secret Service, the DEA and the ATF, along with military recruiters and a day care center.
At about 9:02 a.m. on April 19, 1995, a truck bomb of ammonium nitrate fertilizer, nitromethane and diesel fuel destroyed about a third of the building. 168 people died, 19 of them children. The remaining structure was demolished on May 23, 1995, more than a month later. The site is now the Oklahoma City National Memorial, which keeps some remnants, including the east wall, part of the south wall, the original flagpole and a closed underground garage.
What's There Now
The Oklahoma City National Memorial occupies the site.
Everything that was here
- 1977–1995
Alfred P. Murrah Federal BuildingGovernment Building
A $14.5 million federal office block opened in 1977 and stood for 18 years, until a truck bomb ended it on April 19, 1995.
See the map in 1978 →
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Nearby history
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