Dealey Plaza Historic District
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View from southwest, with the former Texas School Book Depository building at left, and the Dal-Tex Building, right next to it
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Location | 411 Elm Street, Dallas, Texas |
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Coordinates | 32°46′43″N 96°48′30″W / 32.77861°N 96.80833°WCoordinates: 32°46′43″N 96°48′30″W / 32.77861°N 96.80833°W |
Area | 15 acres (6.1 ha) |
Built | 1940 |
Architectural style | Chicago, Early Commercial, Romanesque |
NRHP Reference # | 93001607 |
Significant dates | |
Added to NRHP | April 19, 1993 |
Designated NHLD | October 12, 1993 |
Dealey Plaza /ˈdiːliː/, in the historic West End district of downtown Dallas, Texas (U.S.), is the location of the assassination of John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963. The Dealey Plaza Historic District was named a National Historic Landmark in 1993 to preserve Dealey Plaza, street rights-of-way, and buildings and structures by the plaza visible from the assassination site, that have been identified as witness locations or as possible assassin locations.
Dealey Plaza is a Dallas city park, built on land donated by early Dallas philanthropist and businesswoman Sarah Horton Cockrell. It was completed in 1940 as a WPA project 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), a civic leader and early publisher of The Dallas Morning News, who had campaigned for the area's revitalization. Monuments outlining the plaza honor previous prominent Dallas residents and predate President John F. Kennedy's visit by many years. The actual monument honoring President Kennedy, in the form of a cenotaph, is one block away.