Who really killed JFK?

Though the assassin's identity is hotly debated, everyone can agree that President Kennedy was shot in downtown Dallas' Dealey Plaza. Other than that, not much is known about the history of the plaza, sometimes considered the heart of Dallas and the birthplace of the city.

In 1841, the year the city was founded, John Neely Bryan established a trading post and ferry pass at a narrowing of the Trinity River, becoming a site associated with industry and commerce. After Bryan sold his land, it was used for the city's first post office, courthouse, and hotel, and later became home to the Dal-Tex building and the Texas Book Depository.

Enter George Bannerman Dealey, the publisher of the Dallas Morning News and successful civic leader. Dealey used his newspaper to garner support for city projects that improved industry and appearance. One such project Dealey backed was known as the Kessler Plan, which proposed a levee system to move course of the Trinity River. In 1935, the city acquired the land to construct the Triple Underpass and Dealey hoped the area would be an impressive entrance into the city. The park was constructed and three thoroughfares of Main, Elm and Commerce funnel across it into downtown Dallas.

As a Works Progress Administration project, new trees and landscaping were added, including the pergolas on the slopes framing the Underpass. Dealey Plaza would tragically be made famous when President John F. Kennedy was shot while in a campaigning motorcade travelling on Elm St.