This Article is From Jan 15, 2013

Dallas razes building where John Kennedy's assassin Lee Oswald lived

Dallas razes building where John Kennedy's assassin Lee Oswald lived
Dallas: The city of Dallas on Monday demolished a dilapidated two-story apartment building where Lee Harvey Oswald had lived briefly before he assassinated President John F. Kennedy in November 1963.

Oswald, his wife Marina and their daughter lived in the 10-unit building at 600 Elsbeth Street from November 1962 to March 1963. It was one of several places Oswald had lived in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

The razing of the building followed a four-year dispute between Dallas and owner Jane Bryant, who bought it in 2007 with the aim of renovating and preserving the building for historical reasons. Bryant could not be reached for comment.

The Warren Commission, which investigated Kennedy's assassination, included the apartment in a chronology of Oswald's life as part of its report that concluded Oswald had acted as a lone gunman in assassinating the president.

Gary Mack, curator of The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza, which chronicles the assassination and the Kennedy legacy, said the apartment in the Oak Cliff section of Dallas held little significance.

"The apartment was where Oswald lived when he ordered the revolver he used to kill Dallas Police officer J.D. Tippit 10 months later," Mack said.

Tippit was on patrol when he stopped Oswald in Oak Cliff, a short distance from downtown Dallas where Kennedy had been shot while riding in a motorcade. Oswald shot Tippit and was arrested a few blocks away shortly afterward.

Mack said Oswald had ordered the rifle that investigators found had been used to kill Kennedy 10 days after the family moved from the Elsbeth Street apartment.

The city sued Bryant in 2008 over deterioration of the complex, which was built in 1925. She failed to meet a deadline to make repairs that would bring it up to city standards and a municipal court judge ruled the property could be torn down.

© Thomson Reuters 2013
.