TYLER, Texas (KETK) – From the Archives looks back to the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and its effect on Texas.

The Texas Schoolbook Depository was once the crime scene of the assassination of President Kennedy and is now home to the Sixth Floor Museum.

“We visited the Sixth Floor Museum the week it opened in 1989. I was very drawn to the emotionally charged space, and the sense of history that permeates Dealey Plaza,” said Steven Fagan, long time attendee of the Sixth Floor Museum. Fagan wrote the book “Assassination and Commemoration.”

The political climate surrounding Dallas going into the assassination was full of turmoil.

“Less than a month before the assassination the United Nations ambassador Adlai Stevenson was hit on the head and spit on,” said Fagan

Despite the dislike expressed towards the federal government, President Kennedy’s visit drew almost half the population of Dallas to his parade that day.

Following President Kennedy’s assassination, Dallas has garnered a poor reputation elsewhere in the states.

“I think the most revealing story was a young woman I talked to who was formerly a Dallas schoolgirl in 1963. She received a Christmas card that December, from an east coast relative, that arrived to her door. It was not addressed to Dallas, it was addressed to ‘shame on you Texas,'” shared Fagan.

The Book Depository was nearly demolished and survived two arson attempts. Dallas county took over the building and made it into the Sixth Floor Museum.