Image of Dealey Plaza with Old Red Courthouse in background
Object number1999.034.0014
DateApril 1964
ClassificationsPhotographs
ObjectSlide
Credit LineRobert Russell Collection/The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza
MediumFilm
Dimensions2 x 2 in. (5.1 x 5.1 cm)
Collections
DescriptionOriginal 35mm color slide on Kodak Kodachrome Transparency Film taken by an unknown photographer. For months following the assassination, people would gather in Dealey Plaza to photograph the location. Image shows Dealey Plaza, Elm Street, and Main Street with the Old Red Courthouse and George Allen Courts building under construction in the background.
Curatorial CommentaryModern visitors to Dealey Plaza might notice that the Old Red Courthouse was missing a key architectural feature at the time of the assassination. A 90-foot sandstone and granite bell tower was part of the original structure built in the 1890s. Within a few decades it was determined that the ornate tower was too heavy for the courthouse, and it was removed in 1919. Some 88 years later in 2007 (and 44 years after the Kennedy assassination), a lighter weight replica bell tower supported by a steel structure was installed atop the Old Red Courthouse. - Stephen Fagin, Curator
Jerry Mainer
11/23/1963
