Texas School Book Depository Building

This site was originally owned by John Neely Bryan, the founder of Dallas. During the 1880s French native Maxime Guillot operated a wagon shop here. In 1894 the land was purchased by Phil L. Mitchell, president and director of the Rock Island Plow Company of Illinois. An office building for the firm's Texas division, known as the Southern Rock Island Plow Company, was completed here four years later. In 1901 the five-story structure was destroyed by fire. That same year, under supervision of the company vice president and general manager F. B. Jones, work was completed on this structure. Built to resemble the earlier edifice, it features characteristics of the commercial Romanesque Revival style. In 1937 the Carraway Byrd Corporation purchased the property. Later, under the direction of D. H. Byrd, the building was leased to a variety of businesses, including the Texas School Book Depository. On November 22, 1963, the building gained national notoriety when Lee Harvey Oswald allegedly shot and killed President John F. Kennedy from a sixth floor window as the presidential motorcade passed the site. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1980

Texas School Book Depository Building is a historical marker in Dallas, Dallas County, dedicated in 1981. It is one of 352 historical markers documented in Dallas County in the Texas Historical Commission Atlas, among 574 historic sites cataloged across the county.

The site sits at 32.7796, -96.8082 near Dallas. The nearest cataloged historic site is Sixth Floor Musuem (museum), about under a tenth of a mile away. Others within a short drive include Dallas County Criminal Courts Bldg., Dallas County Courthouse, and John Neely Bryan, 1810-1877 and Margaret Beeman Bryan, 1825-1919.

This record corresponds to Texas Historical Commission Atlas #5113006895. Use the map below for its exact position and turn-by-turn directions.