Dealey Plaza is named in honor of longtime Dallas Morning News publisher4 George Bannerman Dealey, whose 12-foot-tall bronze likeness faces Houston Street and the old county courthouse. Dealey, an Englishman, came to Texas in 1874. He began his newspaper career working for the Galveston News. In 1885 he was sent to North Texas by Colonel A. H. Belo to open a branch office. Under Dealey's watchful eye, The Dallas Morning News (which is today the only major newspaper in Dallas) began publication on October 1, 1885. By the time of his death in 1946, both the venerable Dealey, who had become a respected community leader, and The News were local institutions.

The statue, which was formally dedicated on November 14, 1949, was sculpted by Felix de Weldon at a cost of $19,000. The 3 ton statue stands on a granite base inside which a metal box, containing documents "relating to the life of G. B. Dealey," was placed a few days prior to the dedication ceremony.

The words carved into the statue's base read as follows:

Citizens of all stations and creeds, comprising the G. B. Dealey Memorial Association of Dallas, erect this monument to commemorate the service and preserve the example of great, good, and useful life, consecrated in faith, dedicated in purpose, to the glory of God and the betterment of mankind...Truth was its light, wisdom its guide, history its counselor, journalism its fruitful province, sympathy broad as human need was its inspiration, philanthropy, - founded in all-embracing brotherly love, - its highest aim.

Anno Domini MCMXLIX