The site of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building is now one of the most popular tourist destinations in Oklahoma City – the Oklahoma City National Memorial. The building itself was once a United States Federal Government Complex housing the regional offices of the Social Security Administration, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), and the recruiting offices of the Army and Marine Corps. With 550 employees, and a daycare center, the building was quite a busy complex. However, on April 12, 1995, it was bombed by a US Army veteran, Timothy McVeigh.
The Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building was located in downtown Oklahoma City, at 200 N.W. 5th Street. It was built at a cost of $14.5 million in 1977. Named after federal judge Alfred P. Murrah, a native of Oklahoma, the building was designed by Wendell Locke representing Locke, Wright and Associates, and built of reinforced
A month after the bombing the remains of the building were imploded, giving rise to the Oklahoma City National Memorial. Remnants of the building remain though, such as the plaza on the south side of the building, the east wall, portions of the south wall, the underground parking garage and the flagpole that is still used.
Another survivor of the blast is the Survivor Tree, an integral part of the Memorial. This American elm on the campus of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building survived the blast, symbolizing the reviving spirit of Oklahoma City, surviving and growing in spite of the enormously disturbing and most destructive act of domestic terrorism on American soil.
Oklahoma City hotels offer shuttle services to the Oklahoma City National Memorial and the other tourist destinations of the city.