Because it is better known as the site of the Kennedy Assassination, unless they stop to read this historical marker, most visitors to Dealey Plaza probably do not know that long before 1963 this area was already celebrated in local history as the birthplace of Dallas.

In November 1841 a Tennessee-born Indian trader named John Neely Bryan camped on this site, claiming the surrounding area as his 640-acre headright under the land laws of the Republic of Texas. After having it surveyed, he divided it into town lots and encouraged other settlers to stop and make their home here.

The plaque, erected in 1978, reads:

"In 1839 Tennessee lawyer John Neely Bryan chose this high bluff and shallow ford on the Trinity River as site for a trading post. Finding Indians scarce when he returned in 1844, he platted a town, installed a ferry, and called the place Dallas. In the 1840s, the Republic of Texas opened its Central National Road from here to the U.S. border, and drew settlers to this area with liberal land grants."

"Margaret Beeman was a daughter of John Beeman, a prosperous man from Illinois, of North Carolina heritage. At 15, she met Bryan at the Cross Roads Camp Ground, Bowie County. Her father staked his claim about eight miles from Bryan's town. She and Bryan married in 1843, and became parents of six children. Margaret, her father, and other relatives strongly supported Bryan's work as 'Father of Dallas.'"

"Bryan went to the California gold rush in 1849, but gained no fortune. After his return, he donated 98 city lots for a courthouse and county seat, then sold his ferry and remaining interest in the townsite. In poor health for many years, he died in Austin at 67. Margaret Beeman Bryan lived to age 94, and saw Dallas attain a population of over 150,000"

If you want to learn more about John Neely Bryan and his wife, you can order this book from Amazon.com.

Click on book cover to go directly to order page at Amazon.com

John Neely Bryan: The Father of Dallas, A Biographical Study by Steven R. Butler (2022)

Steven R. Butler's John Neely Bryan: The Father of Dallas, A Biographical Study by Steven R. Butler is now available at AMAZON.COM $17.99 plus tax and shipping.

John Neely Bryan: The Father of Dallas is not only the story of the founding father of one of America's largest cities but also the story of the individuals, largely journalists, who wrote about Bryan in the past. Drawing both on their work and his own original research, Butler has managed to produce a scholarly but readable narrative that forms the most complete picture of the enigmatic Dallas founder that's been published to date.

ISBN 978-0-9981526-5-3