Dallas - Sixth Floor Museum

One of the reasons we wanted to go to Dallas was to visit the Sixth Floor Museum, which on November 22, 1963 was known as the Texas School Book Depository.  We were there about 15-20 years ago but since we (or at least I) was infatuated with the JFK assassination in 1963, we wanted to go back.

In 1963, the building was in use as a multi-floor warehouse storing school textbooks and other related materials and an order-fulfillment center.  The company found that the upper floors had sustained oil damage from items stored there by the previous tenant so they began to cover the floors with plywood to protect their books.  Work had begun on the west side of the sixth floor just before President Kenney's motorcade, "leaving the whole scene in disarray, with stock shifted as far as the east wall, and stacks in between piled unusually high."

Model of the Texas School Book Depository

The interior of the museum has been left just as the depository was in 1963.

Of course, a view of the Sixth Floor is a place of extreme interest.  

Sixth Floor in 1963

Recreated Sixth Floor sniper's nest

From the Sixth Floor, you can look out the windows to witness the view of the motorcade that day.

View of the approach of the motorcade - Houston Street

View of Elm Street - the trees have grown so that the point of impact is difficult to see

This Italian-made Mannlicher-Carcano rifle is identical to the rifle found by investigators in the northwest corner of the sixth floor following the assassination.  That weapon, traced to Depository employee Lee Harvey Oswald, is now in the National Archives.

Jack Ruby wore this gray fedora when he shot Lee Harvey Oswald in the basement of Dallas police headquarters.  Manufactured in New York by Cavanagh Hats, the hat was purchased by Ruby at James K. Wilson in Dallas.

I'll never forget Sunday, November 24, 1963.  My dad picked us up from the temple (Sunday School) and told us that Lee Harvey Oswald had been murdered on national TV.  This was definitely not something that was common place in 1963.

Dallas Police homicide detective Jim Leavelle wore this suit when nightclub owner Jack Ruby shot Lee Harvey Oswald.  The suit, from luxury retailer Neiman-Marcus, was given to Leavelle by a friend who could no longer wear it.  Leavelle purchased the Resistol brand hat at the company's store in Garland, Texas.

Note the handcuffs keeping Oswald restrained

Oswald bought this ring at a jewelry store in Minsk, Russia, in April 1961.  He apparently never took off the ring.

"What motivated this action [leave the ring on the nightstand] on November 22, 1963?" said Stephen Fagin, an associate curator at The Sixth Floor Museum.  "For many researchers, it is the symbolic act of a man who knows he can never go home again.  Whether or not one chooses to directly link this to the assassination, Oswald's action that morning were certainly uncharacteristic and remain open to debate more than a half a century later.  The ring provides a tantalizing window into the mindset of Lee Harvey Oswald."

At the Dallas Trade Mart, where a luncheon was to be held after the motorcade, this place was set and waiting for the President.

The Zapruder film is a silent 8mm color motion picture sequence shot by Abraham Zapruder with a Bell & Howell home movie camera as the JFK motorcade passed through Dealey Plaza and captured the assassination of the President.  Although it is not the only film of the shooting, this film as been described as being the most complete, giving a relatively clear view from a somewhat elevated position on the side from which the president's fatal head would is visible.  It is one of the most studied pieces of film in history.

The original camera is held in the National Archives - this is an identical camera.

It was time to go outside and look around.  This is a good model of the area.

The infamous grassy knoll.

This elevated section in the grassy knoll is where Abraham Zapruder stood to film the motorcade as it passed by.

It was crazy to see a big "X" in the middle of the road designating where the limo was when the President and Governor Connolly were shot.

Not only to see the "X" but to see people running into the road when traffic was stopped to take a photo.

After seeing the museum and surrounding area, we moved on to see a few other notable sites.

Beginning October 14, 1963, Lee Harvey Oswald rented a small room in this house, approximately 2 miles from the Book Depository, for $8 a week.  He slept there on weeknights, and went back on weekends to suburban living, where his wife and children were living.  

On November 22, 1963, Oswald returned to his room immediately after the assassination.  Shortly thereafter, Oswald was confronted by Dallas Police officer J.D. Tippit less than a mile away from the house.  After exchanging a few words, Oswald allegedly shot Tippit and a short time later was arrested at the Texas Theater.

In 1963, the Texas Theater was the largest suburban theater in Dallas and part of a chain of theaters financed by Howard Hughes.  The theater is most famous for being the site of Lee Harvey Oswald's arrest shortly after the assassination. The theater closed in 1989 and the Texas Theater Historical Society purchased it the following year.  This allowed Oliver Stone to remodel the exterior facade for his 1991 film, JFK.  However, by 1992 the Society was no longer able to fund the property and the theater closed again.  There have been several occasions since where there were plans to demolish the theater.

In 2001, the Oak Cliff Foundation acquired the structure and began renovations after receiving $1.6 million from the Dallas Neighborhood Renaissance Partnership.  Since then, the board of the Oak Cliff Foundation has raised an additional $2 million of the estimated $9 million needed to complete renovation of the theater.  The foundation used the funds to secure and restore the building needed after years of neglect and fire damage and the venue began hosting movies and special events soon after.  In 2010, Aviation Cinemas signed a lease to operate the theater as an independent and repertory cinema with hopes of presenting live theater and concerts in the future.

 

And because we like to visit cemeteries, the day would not have been complete without visiting the Shannon Rose Hill Memorial Park in Fort Worth to see the grave of Lee Harvey Oswald.

Oswald's original headstone, a simple granite slab bearing his full name, birthdate, and a cross, was stolen on the four year anniversary of Kennedy's death.  His mother replaced the stone with this red stone that reads simply "Oswald."

The original marker was eventually returned to Oswald's mother, who, believing it would just be stolen again off of the grave, instead placed it in the crawl space of her Fort Worth home.  After her death, the home, along with all of its "contents", was sold in the early 1980s.

The marker, which was discovered by an electrician working under the home, eventually landed in the hands of the owner's distant relative who sold it to the owner of a museum in Illinois for $45,000.  The homeowner argued that the relative did not have the right to sell the marker and the gravestone was returned to the homeowner who brought it back to Texas.  It is currently stored in an undisclosed location.

After Oswald's burial, the location of the grave was not disclosed to keep the curious out.  Enter comedian Nick Beef (stage name) who purchased the plot next to Oswald in 1975.  Then in 1997, he erected a headstone with his own professional moniker with an empty grave below.  Anyone looking for Oswald's grave wouldn't be given information, but those in search of Nick Beef would be given the location which would ultimately lead to Oswald.  The plan soon fell through, however, as the cemetery caught wind of the stunt and will no longer direct visitors to Nick Beef.

The description of the grave location on findagrave.com shows Oswald's grave location as Section: Fairlawn 17.  Precise location about 30 feet to the right of a big tree across from a mausoleum marked SHANNON.  About 30ft NW of the steps west of the red granite mausoleum.

We were able to find the graves but it took us some research to figure out who Nick Beef was and why he is "buried" next to Lee Harvey Oswald.  

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