Seeing the sites of a fateful day

For such a high-profile city, it's surprising that Dallas has only two real claims to fame: the eponymous 1980s soap opera and the assassination of John F. Kennedy. The shooting, which occurred while the presidential motorcade was making its way through the city centre, took place on November 22nd, 1963.

Although police and subsequent federal investigations declared that lone gunman Lee Harvey Oswald had killed the president, few are convinced by this explanation. Conspiracy theorists, as well as more rational members of the public, maintain that the true story behind the most famous murder of the 20th century will probably never come to light.

Perversely, the continuing controversy over the assassination has been good business for Dallas. Each year, thousands of tourists come to the city to make up their own minds exactly what happened on that fateful day more than 37 years ago. Such is the killing's fascination that many tourists visit all the sites, major and minor, associated with it. But despite this continuing public interest, time has taken its toll on the places associated with the assassination. Senior Corporal Cheryl Convery regularly shows tourists the spot where Oswald himself was shot dead by nightclub boss Jack Ruby while leaving the police station. But for those familiar with the Pulitzer-winning photograph of Oswald's last moments, the current scene is barely recognisable.

"It's an employee parking garage today and two double doors have been built on to the station," she says. "We still get a lot of tourists, but they don't recognise it at all. And when the police move headquarters in 2003, there might be even more changes."

The landmark that has undergone the biggest metamorphosis, however, is Trauma Room No. 1 in Parkland Hospital, the place where JFK actually died. In the years following the assassination, many visitors came to the hospital to pay their respects. However, in the mid1970s, when Parkland was undergoing refurbishment, the federal government purchased and then entirely dismantled the trauma room's emergency facilities. Ken Hobbs, who at the time of Kennedy's death was chief of admissions at the hospital, says the government preserved everything.

"They got everything, from the machine that took Kennedy's blood pressure to the clock on the wall. They even took the tiles off the floor," he says.

Managed by the National Archives, the artefacts are today locked away in a safe. They have never been opened to the public and, insists an archive spokesman, they probably never will. The Texas Theatre, the cinema where Oswald was captured, is currently empty. But a local foundation says it hopes to reopen the building as a working theatre in the near future. When this happens, it says, there will be special seat to mark the location of Oswald's arrest.

Jeff West, executive director of the Sixth Floor Museum, located in the former book depository where Oswald fired the fatal shots (possibly), says: "We try to protect the sites we can. Even this building was going to be torn down, but the city managed to save it. And Dealey Plaza, the actual site of the assassination, was up for redevelopment before it was awarded `historic landmark' status to prevent it being changed."

West agrees that there is a need to preserve sites linked to the murder, both for curious tourists and for posterity.

"Preservation is important because it allows people to go and touch and see what went on," he says. "All the sites here help us to understand the events of that terrible day."