Dealey Plaza

• • Dealey Plaza** is a 3.07-acre park in downtown Dallas, Texas, known both as the site of the founding of Dallas in 1841 and as the site of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963. The park sits at the west end of downtown, between and on either side of the three main thoroughfares of Elm Street, Main Street, and Commerce Street at a point just before they converge in the Triple Underpass. Long nicknamed "the Front Door of Dallas," the plaza draws visitors from around the world and remains the city's most-visited heritage site and a National Historic Landmark.

Origins and the Founding of Dallas

The land that is now Dealey Plaza has been at the center of Dallas history from the very beginning. In 1841, John Neely Bryan built a log cabin on the site, on a bluff overlooking the Trinity River. The plaza is sometimes nicknamed the "birthplace of Dallas," and the nickname stems from the fact that the plaza was where the first home, courthouse, post office, store, and fraternal lodge were all built.

The bluff was later altered in 1928 through landscaping and flood control improvements of the Trinity River by the United States Army Corps of Engineers and other entities. After the Trinity River was moved west, away from downtown Dallas, in the late 1920s, George B. Dealey, publisher of The Dallas Morning News, donated land for the creation of a western gateway into the city. This act of civic generosity set the stage for the construction of the plaza as Dallasites know it today.

Construction and the New Deal Era

The park is built around a triple underpass in the heart of Dallas. After the triple underpass was built, the remaining green space between the streets, and to the north of Elm and the south of Commerce, was transferred to the Park Board for development as a public park. The triple underpass beneath a railroad was decided upon in the 1930s and opened in 1936, and the large park area above it was landscaped and planted with Texas oak trees.

The Dealey Plaza park project, which spanned five years, was a cooperative effort of the City of Dallas, the Texas Highway Department, and the Works Progress Administration (WPA). Designed by Kansas City architects Hare & Hare, the landscaping and Art Deco-styled structures complemented the design details on the triple underpass. The area was further developed as "The Front Door of Dallas" between 1935–1942 as a vehicular park and a triple underpass constructed in part by workers from the federally-sponsored Works Progress Administration and the National Youth Administration.

In 1935, the proposed park was officially called Dealey Plaza to honor Dallas civic leader G.B. Dealey for his longtime efforts to better the city. Completed in 1941, the plaza and the adjacent triple underpass became known as the "Front Door of Dallas." Shortly after G.B. Dealey's death in 1946, the Park Board paid tribute to him by officially naming the site Dealey Plaza. In 1949, a bronze statue of Dealey, sculpted by Felix de Weldon, was installed in the park.

George Bannerman Dealey

The plaza takes its name from one of Dallas's most consequential civic figures. The name Dealey Plaza commemorates George Bannerman Dealey, one of the early publishers of The Dallas Morning News and a key voice in campaigning for improvements in this part of Dallas. George Dealey (1859–1946) was the longtime publisher of the Dallas Morning News, among many other ventures.

The plaza is named after Dealey, a civic leader and early publisher of The Dallas Morning News. He is remembered because he wanted to clean up Dallas — even going so far as to place trash cans around the plaza — and he also hired a city planner and pushed for reform near the plaza. His statue can be seen near the reflecting pools along South Houston Street. Dealey's advocacy for public works and civic beautification during the early twentieth century directly shaped the character of the plaza's design and the broader West End Historic District in which it sits.

The Kennedy Assassination, November 22, 1963

The event that would define Dealey Plaza in global memory occurred on the afternoon of November 22, 1963. Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas was the site where President John F. Kennedy was assassinated at 12:30 p.m. (CST) on November 22, 1963. Kennedy was on a fund-raising trip in Texas, visiting several cities, and he was traveling in an open convertible in a motorcade passing through Dealey Plaza on Elm Street when Lee Harvey Oswald fired the fatal shots from the Texas School Book Depository, at the corner of Elm Street and North Houston Street facing Dealey Plaza.

A white X on Elm Street marks the spot where the president was shot, and on the northwest side of the plaza is the famed Grassy Knoll, which played an important role in conspiracy theories about alternate shooters. Throughout the years, a variety of hand-painted X marks have appeared on Elm Street allegedly denoting the two locations of President Kennedy's limousine when shots struck him. These are not official markings from the city or any other historical organization. Occasionally, the city removes them, but they always quickly reappear.

In the wake of the assassination, impromptu and later permanent memorials to Kennedy appeared in the plaza. Though many people felt that the former Texas School Book Depository should be razed, eventually the building's top two floors were turned into the Sixth Floor Museum, which opened in 1989 and is dedicated to the life and times of Kennedy and the story of his assassination.

Landmarks and Architecture Within the District

The Dealey Plaza National Historic Landmark District encompasses several significant structures, most of which date to the era surrounding the assassination. It is also the city's only national historic district and one of only five such districts in the state of Texas.

Texas School Book Depository / Sixth Floor Museum: Now known as the Dallas County Administration Building, this seven-story structure is where Lee Harvey Oswald fired the shot killing President Kennedy from the sixth-floor window at the building's southeastern corner at North Houston Street. The 1901 building houses the Sixth Floor Museum.

Old Dallas County Courthouse ("Old Red"): The Romanesque Revival courthouse building was constructed between 1890 and 1892 as the county's sixth courthouse. The building is situated on the east side of South Houston Street directly across from Dealey Plaza on the block between Main and Commerce, and is constructed of Pecos red sandstone and Little Rock blue granite. The building now houses the Old Red Museum of Dallas County History & Culture.

U.S. Post Office Terminal Annex: This structure of subdued Art Deco and Classical styles was constructed in 1937 as a New Deal public works project.

Reflecting Pools and Pergolas: Two reflecting pools extend along Houston Street within the plaza, rectangular on their ends near Main and oval-shaped at their ends along the edges. Curved concrete colonnades with pylons at the ends run along the west of each reflecting pool, and concrete planters holding oak trees are placed between the pools and the colonnades. Two concrete columnar pergolas, one north of Elm Street and the other south of Commerce Street, symmetrically gate the portion of Dealey Plaza where Elm and Commerce converge toward Main Street as they approach the Triple Underpass. The Elm Street pergola, located adjacent to the Grassy Knoll, has a historical marker honoring John Neely Bryan, Dallas' founder.

Dal-Tex Building: This seven-story building sits immediately east across North Houston Street from the Texas School Book Depository and is catercorner from Dealey Plaza. The 1902 building has a three-story annex on the north to Pacific Avenue, constructed in 1904.

Historic Designation and Preservation

The Dealey Plaza Historic District was named a National Historic Landmark on the 30th anniversary of the assassination, to preserve Dealey Plaza, street rights-of-way, buildings, and structures by the plaza visible from the assassination site, which have been identified as witness locations or as possible locations for the assassin. The Dealey Plaza Historic District was added to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 1993 and designated a National Historic Landmark the same year.

Until the development of Dallas' highway system, Dealey Plaza served as the major gateway to the city from the west. A project to restore the park to its 1963 appearance and to improve the tourist experience was undertaken beginning in 2003. Dealey Plaza and all of the contributing buildings are part of the West End Historic District (NRHP #78002918, 1978; Dallas Landmark Historic District #H/2, 1975), with the single exception of the U.S. Post Office Terminal Annex, which is outside the boundaries of that district.

Today the plaza is managed by the Dallas Parks and Recreation Department. It is designated a special use park, with its address at 400 Main Street, Dallas, TX 75201. The site attracts historians, tourists, and researchers from across the country and abroad, drawn both by its role as the cradle of early Dallas settlement and by its indelible connection to one of the most significant events in American political history.