Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum: Changing ...
Improvements at Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum Near Completion
Seventy-five percent of the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum's $8 million enhancement project is now complete.
The goal of this year-long enhancement project is to update the museum with artifacts and evidence not previously shown, new interactive exhibits, and oral testimonies.
"Our story hasn't changed," said Kari Watkins, Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum executive director. "What we are changing is the way we tell the story with new technology, much of it aimed at reaching our younger visitors. Many of these students weren't even born yet when the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building was bombed almost twenty years ago." One hundred sixty-eight people, including nineteen children, were killed in the incident, the largest domestic attack on American soil.
One key piece of evidence never before displayed is the Mercury Grand Marquis Timothy McVeigh was driving at the time of his arrest, just seventy-five minutes after he lit the fertilizer bomb fuse and drove off in his getaway car. New interactive exhibits take visitors along the FBI trail of evidence. A brand-new forty-foot glass balcony connects the museum with the outdoor memorial grounds and the downtown Oklahoma City skyline. The human side of the story, still the most important one, is told by those most deeply affected, including those who lost family members, those who survived, rescue workers, and the investigation and justice teams.
To date, more than twenty-five thousand man-hours have been worked between memorial staff, designers, and construction teams.
The project is expected to be complete in December 2014.
Click here to visit the memorial's website.
