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Image of Old Red Courthouse from Dealey Plaza after the assassination, Slide #34
Image of Old Red Courthouse from Dealey Plaza after the assassination, Slide #34

Image of Old Red Courthouse from Dealey Plaza after the assassination, Slide #34

Object number2001.004.0030
Date11/23/1963
ClassificationsPhotographs
Photographer Jerry Mainer
ObjectSlide
Credit LineJerry Mainer Collection/The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza
MediumFilm
Dimensions2 x 2 in. (5.1 x 5.1 cm)
Collections
DescriptionOriginal 35mm color slide taken by amateur photographer Jerry Mainer. Image shows the Dallas County Criminal Courts Building, the Old Red Courthouse and a portion of Dealey Plaza on the afternoon of November 23, 1963, the day after the assassination of President Kennedy. The image also shows the metal framework of the new courthouse under construction next to the Old Red Courthouse.
Curatorial Commentary
The slides are numbered sequentially starting at #4 and going through #36, skipping #20, for a total of 32 slides. They were donated to the Museum like this, and it is unknown what happened to the missing slides from this sequence.   - Stephanie Allen-Givens, Collections and Exhibits Manager
Modern 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