Dealey Plaza
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Dealey Plaza (Warren Commission exhibit #876) |
Dealey Plaza, (pronounced
dee-lee) in the historic
West End district of
downtown Dallas,
Texas (
USA), is infamous as the location of the
John F. Kennedy assassination on
November 22,
1963.
Dealey Plaza is a Dallas city park completed in
1940 on the west edge of downtown Dallas where three streets converge (
Main Street, Elm Street, and Commerce Street) to pass under a
railroad bridge known locally as the triple underpass. The plaza is named for
George Bannerman Dealey (
1859–
1946), an early publisher of
The Dallas Morning News and civic leader, and the man who had campaigned for the area's revitalization. Many believe the monuments outlining the plaza are there to honor
President Kennedy, but they actually honor previous prominent Dallas residents and predate President Kennedy's visit by many years. The actual Dallas monument to Kennedy, in the form of a
cenotaph, is located one block away. Dealey Plaza is historically known as the site of the first Masonic temple in Dallas (now razed), and there is a marker attesting to this fact in the plaza.
Main article: John F. Kennedy assassination
Dealey Plaza is bounded on the south, east, and north sides by 100'+ tall buildings. One of those buildings is the former
Texas School Book Depository building, from which both the
Warren Commission and the
House Select Committee on Assassinations concluded that
Lee Harvey Oswald fired a rifle that killed President John F. Kennedy. There is also a
grassy knoll on the northwest side of the plaza, from which the House Select Committee on Assassinations determined there was a "high probability" that a second gunman also fired at President Kennedy, but missed. At the plaza's west perimeter is a triple underpass beneath a railroad bridge, under which the motorcade raced after the shots were fired.
Today, the plaza is typically filled with tourists visiting the assassination site and
The Sixth Floor Museum that now occupies the top two floors of the seven story former Book Depository. Since
1989, more than 5 million people have visited the museum.
One source of information that includes the location of each witness alone on a picture of the site with the witness's key testimony is found here [
1] One of the better-scaled maps of Dealey Plaza showing witnesses locations and observations, suspected assassins locations, evidentiary artifacts, and other valuable information can be found
here.
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The path used by the motorcade. North is almost directly to the left. |
The
United States National Park Service designated Dealey Plaza a
National Historic Landmark in 1993. Therefore, nothing of significance has been torn down or rebuilt in the immediate area. (A small plaque commemorating the assassination exists in the plaza.)
Visitors to Dealey Plaza today will see street lights and street signs that were in use in 1963, though some have been moved to different locations and others removed entirely. Buildings immediately surrounding the plaza have not been changed since 1963, presenting a stark contrast to the ultra-modern Dallas skyline that rises behind it.
Over the last 40+ years, Elm Street has been resurfaced several times; street lane stripes have been relocated; sidewalk lamp posts have been moved and added; trees, bushes and hedges have grown; and some traffic sign locations have been changed, relocated or removed. In late 2003, the city of Dallas approved construction project plans to restore Dealey Plaza to its exact appearance on
November 22,
1963.
As of 2004, the funds to do so had been approved.
The "grassy knoll" of Dealey Plaza is a small, sloping hill inside the plaza that became infamous following the
John F. Kennedy assassination. The knoll was above
President Kennedy and to his right (west and north) during the
assassination on November 22, 1963.
The north grassy knoll is bounded by the former Texas School Book Depository building along the Elm Street abutment side street to the northeast, Elm Street and a sidewalk to the south, a parking lot to the north and east, and a railroad bridge atop the triple underpass convergence of Commerce, Main, and Elm streets to the west.
Located near the north grassy knoll on November 22, 1963, were several witnesses; three large traffic signposts; four sidewalk lamp posts; the John Neely Bryan north pergola cement structure, including its two enclosed shelters; a tool shed; one 3.3' high cement wall connected to each of the pergola shelters; ten tall, wide, low-hanging live oak trees; a 5' tall, wooden, cornered, stockade fenceline approximately 176' long; six street curb sewers openings, their sewer manholes, and their interconnecting large pipes; and numerous 2' to 6' tall bushes, trees, and hedges. Behind the picket fence was the train control tower which
Lee Bowers was working in during the assassination; He claimed to have seen several strangers in the area minutes before the assassination; he also claimed to have seen "a flash of light or smoke or something" behind the fence on the grassy knoll at the time of the shooting.[
2]
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The wooden fence. The fence sits atop the grassy knoll, much of which is out of frame to the right. |
Because of persistent debate, answered and unanswered questions, and
conspiracy theories surrounding the Kennedy assassination and the possible related role of the grassy knoll, the term "grassy knoll" has come to also be a modern
slang expression indicating suspicion, conspiracy, or a cover-up.
*
Dealey Plaza stock photography, Creative Commons licensed*
Texas Twisted: JFK Assassination Tour with color photos of Dealey Plaza*
Dealey Plaza Cam - a view from the sixth floor window*
Dr. Thomas study of the grassy knoll shot, March 2001*
Dr. Thomas study of the grassy knoll shot, November 2001*
Dr. Thomas study of the grassy knoll shot, September 2002*
Dr. Thomas study of the grassy knoll shot, November 2002*
Dr. Thomas study of the grassy knoll shot, December 2003; Court-tv rebuttal*
The Man Who Named the Grassy Knoll - by Gary Mack of
The Sixth Floor Museum* (includes history of Dealey Plaza).
* (pp. 238-242, unraveling of acoustic evidence in JFK conspiracy finding).
