Fifty years ago today President John F. Kennedy was assassinated by sniper Lee Harvey Oswald as he made his way through Dealy Plaza in Downtown Dallas Texas via presidential motorcade. Here are some photos of the immediate region that I took several years ago while on a business trip for a firm I had worked for. It was a brutally hot day but my colleague and I wanted to see the area while the free time was there to do it. I had never been to Texas before so this was a first and I had to admit that being in this part of the town was a little creepy based on its history.

I used my little Vivitar camera for this shots. There was no elaborate zoom or detachable lenses, just a handy fit in your pocket device. Readers might be surprised but there were no digital cameras at this time and of course no Smart Phones, or Social Networks. It was around 1996 when I took this trip and none of that was as commonplace as it is in today’s society… There were lots of “guides” who would point to various spots and fill you in on the story for a few dollars but we didn’t partake in that and instead just walked with our own purpose.

I was pretty sure this was where one of the guides said that the President was hit. I didn’t go further into the street because this was a very busy road. I didn’t want to get hit by a passing car after all.

Oswald shot the President from the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository. He used a 6.5 × 52 mm Italian Carcano M91/38 bolt-action rifle according to reference. In this photo the window is one floor below the top towards the center (to your visual left).

I was half listening to one of the area locals who was giving his own brief tour of the region and recanting the history of the event and this was the area that was known as “The Grassy Knoll”. There are those who are convinced that a second shooter was in this area. It has never been proven to be a fact.

Pardon the oh so obvious touristy look that I am sporting with my shorts and fanny pack as I pose with some of the buildings behind me. I will have you know that it was 115 degrees that day and despite no humidity because of it being Texas, that was frigging hot!

Learn more about this terrible moment in US History by clicking into the Official Wikipedia entry that can be found HERE.