The Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building was a United States federal government complex located at 200 N.W. 5th Street in downtown Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. On April 19, 1995, at 9:02 a.m. the building was the target of the Oklahoma City bombing by terrorists Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, which killed 168 people and injured 680 others. A third of the building collapsed seconds after the truck bomb detonated. The remains were demolished a month after the attack, and the Oklahoma City National Memorial was built on the site.

Construction and use
The building was designed by architects Stephen H. Horton and Wendell Locke of Locke, Wright and Associates and constructed by J.W. Bateson using reinforced concrete in 1977 at a cost of $14.5 million. The building, named for federal judge Alfred P. Murrah, an Oklahoma native, opened on March 2, 1977.

By the 1990s, the building contained regional offices for the Social Security Administration, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the United States Secret Service, the Department of Veterans Affairs vocational rehabilitation counseling center, the Drug Enforcement Administration (D.E.A.), and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF). It also contained recruiting offices for the U.S. military. It housed approximately 550 employees.
It also housed America's Kids, a children's day care center.

Prior bombing plots
In October 1983, members of the Christian militia group The Covenant, The Sword, and the Arm of the Lord (CSA), including founder James Ellison and Richard Snell plotted to park "a van or trailer in front of the Federal Building and blow it up with rockets detonated by a timer." While the CSA was building a rocket launcher to attack the building, the ordnance accidentally detonated in a member's hands. The CSA took this as divine intervention and called off the planned attack. Convicted of murder in Arkansas in an unrelated case, Snell was executed on April 19, 1995, the same day the bombing of the federal building was carried out, after U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas declined to hear further appeal.

Destruction

At 9:02 a.m. local time on April 19, 1995, a Ryder rental truck, containing approximately 7,000 pounds (3,175 kg) of ammonium nitrate fertilizer, nitromethane, and diesel fuel was detonated in front of the building, destroying a third of it and causing severe damage to several other buildings located nearby. As a result, 168 people were killed, including 19 children, and over 800 others were injured. It remains the deadliest domestic terrorist attack, with the most property damage, in the U.S.

Timothy McVeigh, a U.S. Army veteran, was found guilty of the attack in a jury trial and sentenced to death. He was executed in 2001. A co-conspirator, Terry Nichols, is serving multiple life sentences in a federal prison. Third and fourth subjects Michael Fortier and his wife, Lori, assisted in the plot. They testified against both McVeigh and Nichols in exchange for a 12-year prison term for Michael and immunity for Lori. Michael was released into the witness protection program in January 2006.

McVeigh said that he bombed the building on the second anniversary of the Waco siege in 1993 to retaliate for U.S. government actions there and at the siege at Ruby Ridge. Before his execution, he said that he did not know a day care center was in the building and that, had he known, "It might have given me pause to switch targets." The FBI said that he scouted the interior of the building in December 1994 and likely knew of the day care center before the bombing.

Artwork in the building
Many works of art were in the building when it was destroyed in the Oklahoma City bombing. The Oklahoma City National Memorial displays art that survived the bombing. Nineteen pieces of art recovered from the Murrah Building are on permanent display on the first floor of the University of Central Oklahoma's Max Chambers Library. These pieces include:

 Monolith IV, sculpture by Franklin Simons
 Morning Mist, photograph by David Halpern
 Charon's Sentinels, photograph by David Halpern
 North of Cunningham, photograph by Albert Durr Edgar
 Cowboy in Coffee Shop, photograph by Curt Clyne
 Morning in Taos, fiber art by Betty Jo Kidson
 Sun Form, fiber sculpture by Dena Madole
 Storm, sculpture by Richard Davis
 Double Layers, fiber art by Jane Knight
 31 Flavors, fiber sculpture by Sally Anderson
 Loyal Creek, clay sculptures by Carol Whitney
 October, fiber art by Joyce Pardington
 Precise Notations, tapestry by Bud Stalnaker
 A Fallen Oak Tree, wood mural by James Strickland
 Carnival, tapestry by Anna Burgess
 A Fur Piece, mixed media by Rebecca Friedman
 Oklahoma Quilt by Terrie Mangat
 Canyon Wall Number 2, fiber art by Joyce Pardington
 Sunburst , fiber art by Melanie Vandenbos

Lost works are as follows:
 Sky Ribbons: An Oklahoma Tribute, 1978 fiber sculpture by Gerhardt Knodel
 Columbines at Cascade Canyon, photograph by Albert D. Edgar
 Winter Scene, photograph by Curt Clyne
 Soaring Currents, sisal and rayon textile by Karen Chapnick
 Monolith, porcelain sculpture by Frank Simons
 Through the Looking Glass, wool textile by Anna Burgress
 Palm Tree Coil, bronze sculpture by Jerry McMillan.

An untitled acrylic sculpture by Fred Eversley was severely damaged, but survived the blast.

Demolition

Rescue and recovery efforts were concluded at 11:50 pm on May 1, with the bodies of all but three victims recovered. For safety reasons, the remains were to be demolished shortly afterward. However, McVeigh's attorney, Stephen Jones, called for a motion to delay the demolition until the defense team could examine the site in preparation for the trial. More than a month after the bombing, at 7:01 am on May 23, the remains were demolished.  The final three bodies, those of two credit union employees and a customer, were recovered. For several days after the remains' demolition, trucks hauled 800 tons of debris a day away from the site. Some of it was used as evidence in the conspirators' trials, incorporated into parts of memorials, donated to local schools, or sold to raise funds for relief efforts.

Remnants and replacement
Several remnants of the building stand on the site of the Oklahoma City National Memorial. The plaza (on what was once its south side) has been incorporated into the memorial; the original flagpole is still in use. The east wall (within the building's footprint) is intact, as well as portions of the south wall. The underground parking garage survived the blast and is used today, but is guarded and closed to the public.

Consideration was given to not replacing the Murrah Building and to renting office space for agencies affected.  Ultimately, the General Services Administration broke ground on a replacement building in 2001 which was completed in 2003.  The new 185,000-square-foot building was designed by Ross Barney Architects of Chicago, Illinois, with Carol Ross Barney as the lead designer. Constructed on a two-city-block site, one block north and west of the former site, the new building's design maximized sustainable design and workplace productivity initiatives. Security design was paramount to the Federal employees and its neighbors. Secure design was achieved based on the GSA's current standards for secure facilities including blast resistant glazing. Structural design resists progressive collapse. Building mass, glazing inside the courtyard, and bollards help to maintain a sense of openness and security. The art in architecture component of the building incorporates a water feature that acts as an additional security barrier.

References

External links

 Photos of the Murrah building before the bombing

Federal buildings in the United States
Former skyscrapers
Buildings and structures in Oklahoma City
Buildings of the United States government
Collapsed buildings and structures in the United States
Government buildings in Oklahoma
Government buildings completed in 1977
1970s architecture in the United States
1977 establishments in Oklahoma
1995 disestablishments in Oklahoma
Oklahoma City bombing
Demolished buildings and structures in Oklahoma
Buildings and structures demolished by controlled implosion
Buildings and structures demolished in 1995
Buildings and structures damaged in the Oklahoma City bombing
앨프리드 P. 뮤러 연방정부청사()는 미국 연방 정부의 종합청사로 미국 오클라호마주 오클라호마시티의 중심가에 있었다. 이 건물은 1995년 4월 19일, 19명의 어린이를 포함한 168명의 희생자를 낸 오클라호마 폭탄 테러의 표적이 되었다. 건물의 잔해를 테러가 있은 지 1개월 뒤에 철거되었으며, 오클라호마 폭탄 테러 기념비가 그 장소에 건립되었다.

건축 및 용도 
앨프리드 P. 뮤러 연방정부청사는 건축가 웬델 로크(Wendell Loche)가 설계하였으며, 철근 콘크리트를 사용하여 1977년에 1450만 달러의 비용을 들여 건축되었다. 이 청사의 이름은 오클라호마주 출신의 연방정부 판사 앨프리드 P. 뮤러(Alfred P. Murrah)의 이름을 딴 것이며, 청사는 1977년 3월 2일에 개장하였다.

1990년대까지 이 빌딩은 미국 사회보장국(SSA, Sosial Security Administration), 미국 마약단속국, 주류·담배·화기 단속국(ATF, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms)의 역할을 수행하였다. 또한 육군과 해병대의 신병 모집 사무소도 그 건물에 함께 있었다. 이 건물은 대략 550명의 직원을 수용하였다.

폭발 

1995년 4월 19일 오전 9시 2분에 트럭 한 대가 대략 2,300 칼로그램의 질산암모늄 비료와 니트로메탄과 경유를 싣고서 앨프리드 P. 뮤러 연방정부청사 앞에서 폭발하였다. 이 때문에 건물의 1/3이 파괴되었으며, 근처에 있던 다른 건물들도 심각한 피해를 입었다. 이 심각한 폭발로 19명의 어린이를 포함하여 168명이 목숨을 잃었으며, 800명이 넘는 사람들이 부상을 입었다. 이는 9·11 테러가 있기 전까지 미국 영토에 대한 가장 심각한 테러였다.

티머시 멕베이(Timothy McVeigh)는 테러를 감행한 죄를 인정받아 사형을 선고받았으며, 2001년에 그에 대한 사형이 집행되었다. 공모자인 테리 니콜스(Terry Nichols)는 연방 감옥에서 수 년째 복역 중이다. 그밖에 또 다른 공모자인 마이클 포티어(Michael Fortier)와 그의 아내 로리 포티어는 테러 음모에 가담하였으며, 맥베이와 니콜스에게 불리하게 증언하였으며, 그 대가로 마이클은 12년형을 선고받았고, 로리는 사면되었다. 마이클은 증인 보호 프로그램에 따라 2006년 1월에 석방되었다.

티머시 멕베이는 그가 연방정부청사에 폭탄테러를 감행하기로 한 것은, 웨이코 포위 작전(이 사건이 일어난 지 정확히 2년 전, 1993년 4월 19일에 일어난 사건)과 루비 능선의 포위 작전 때에 정부가 취한 행동에 대한 앙갚음이었다고 진술하였다. 사형이 집행되기 전에 맥베이는 연방정부청사에 보육센터가 있는지 몰랐으며, 만약에 알았다면 "범행 표적을 변경했을 것"이라고 진술하였다. 그러나 FBI는 맥베이가 1994년 12월에 그가 이 건물 인테리어와 관련하여 고용되었으므로 폭탄 테러 전에 보육센터를 알았을 것이라고 진술하였다.

철거 
인명 구조와 현장 복구는 5월 4일 오후 11시 50분에 종결되었으며, 희생자 중에서 세 명을 제외하고는 시신이 모두 발견되었다. 안전 상의 이유로 건물은 그 직후 철거하기로 하였다. 그러나 맥베이의 변호사인 스티븐 존스(Stephen Jones)는 변호인단이 재판을 준비하기 위하여 사건 현장을 조사할 수 있도록 철거를 연기할 것을 발의하였다. 이 과정에서 찾지 못한 3명(신용협동조합 직원 2명 및 고객 1명)의 시신이 발견되었다.

건물을 철거하는 며칠동안, 트럭은 800톤의 잔해를 멀리 떨어진 곳으로 운반하였다. 잔해물 중 일부는 공모범 재판과 관련하여 증거물로 사용되었으며, 추모공원의 일부로 포함되었고, 지역 학교에 기부되었으며, 구호 활동을 위한 자금을 조성할 목적으로 판매되었다.

잔해와 새 건물 
지금도 연방정부청사 건물의 잔해가 오클라호마 폭탄 테러 추모공원에 일부 남아 있다. 한때 건물의 남쪽 면이었던 광장은 지금도 있으며 추모공원의 일부에 포함되었다. 옛 건물의 게양대는 여전히 사용중이다. 옛 청사 건물의 동측 벽과, 남측 벽 일부분은 지금도 온전하다. 또한 옛 건물의 지하주차장은 폭발에도 살아남아 오늘날에도 기능을 발휘하고 있다. 그러나 이 지하주차장은 대중에 개방되지 않았으며 삼엄한 경비가 이루어지고 있다.

연방정부는 2000년 후반에 옛 청사를 대신할 새 청사의 건축을 시작하였다. 새 청사는 옛 청사가 있던 곳의 바로 북쪽에 있으며, 옛 청사의 폭발 이후에 시행된 안전 조치가 포함되었다.

외부 링크 

 폭탄 테러 전 뮤러 연방정부청사의 사진
 뮤러 연방정부청사의 철거 장면

오클라호마시티의 마천루
정부 건축물
미국의 없어진 건축물
붕괴된 건축물
없어진 마천루
미국 연방 정부
오클라호마시티 폭탄 테러
1977년 완공된 건축물
1995년 폐지