Built 1956 (1956) Opened 1956 | NRHP Reference # 14000963 Added to NRHP 16 November 2014 | |
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Location 2515 W. 5th Street, Irving, Texas Similar Ruth Paine House Museum, Lee Harvey Oswald Rooming, Texas Stadium, Irving Convention Center at, National Scouting Museum | ||
The Ruth Paine Home at 2515 W. 5th Street in Irving, Texas, United States, is the location where Lee Harvey Oswald spent the night before assassinating President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963. It was from the house's garage that he removed the rifle he used for the assassination, which he had previously concealed there.
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The house was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on November 16, 2014.
History
Located in the Dallas suburb of Irving, the Paine home was a key location in the John F. Kennedy assassination saga of 1963. The house, owned at the time by Michael and Ruth Paine, served as a temporary residence for Marina Oswald and her children. The Paines were separated and living apart, so Ruth had offered her home to Marina.
Marina's husband, Lee Harvey Oswald, was living at a rooming house at 1026 N. Beckley in Dallas to be near his newly acquired job at the Texas School Book Depository in Downtown Dallas. Lee would visit Marina and the children customarily on Fridays and spend the weekend at the Paine home, then return again to Dallas for work on Monday.
After his shift on Thursday, November 21, 1963, Lee surprised co-worker Buell Wesley Frazier in asking for a ride back to Irving on Thursday instead of the following day. Buell, a nearby neighbor of the Paines, also worked at the Texas School Book Depository, and he and Lee would commute together daily to Downtown Dallas. Lee stated that Marina had made him some new curtains for his apartment and wanted to retrieve them.
On the morning of November 22, 1963, Oswald retrieved his rifle from the garage, where it was concealed in a blanket on the garage floor. Leaving early before anyone was awake, and leaving cash and his wedding ring on a bedside table, Lee reportedly then wrapped the rifle in some bulk brown wrapping paper and proceeded a half block to the home where Buell Wesley Frazier stayed. He placed the package in the back seat and began the commute to the Texas School Book Depository.
President John F. Kennedy was assassinated hours later as his presidential motorcade passed directly in front of the building.
Purchase by City of Irving and museum
In 2009, the City of Irving purchased the property and began plans to restore the home. In an effort to return the home to its 1963 appearance, the city spent an estimated $100,000. Restoration began in 2011, and the Ruth Paine Home was opened as a museum on November 6, 2013.