Dealey Plaza, dedicated in 1936 and long known as "The Front Door of Dallas," is remembered today as the site of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination in 1963. It was the end point of the presidential motorcade before it continued to Stemmons Freeway and the Dallas Trade Mart, where Kennedy was to speak at a luncheon. The site was historically significant even before 1963 because it marks the birthplace of Dallas, originally founded by John Neely Bryan in the 1840s. Its familiar architectural structures were built nearly a century later as a WPA project, and the park was named for Dallas Morning News publisher George Bannerman Dealey, a civic leader and champion of city planning.