The city’s most-visited heritage site, Dealey Plaza Historic District, is also a National Historic Landmark. The plaza was built from 1934 to 1940 as the western gateway to downtown. Tragedy made it famous worldwide in 1963. On the plaza is the former School Book Depository, where Lee Harvey Oswald assassinated President John F. Kennedy. It’s now the Sixth Floor Museum, which recounts Kennedy’s life, death and legacy in dramatic sight-and-sound exhibits. Dealey Plaza also encompasses the 1970 Kennedy Memorial by noted architect Philip Johnson, the 1891 Richardsonian Romanesque “Old Red” Courthouse, the 1913 Renaissance Revival Dallas Criminal Courts Building and a replica of John Neely Bryan’s 1841 log cabin.
Dealey Plaza Historic District was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1993.