The area behind the picket fence (and a bit about Lee Bowers)

[Charles Collins]

   You must be looking at a better quality photo than I am looking at above. I do Not see any of the N-S picket fence and only about 3/4 of the Pergola Shelter.

The first few feet of the N-S section of the picket fence are visible. Further north it is in the shadows of the large tree so we do not actually see it. The reason I posted this is because you stated the N-S section of the picket fence extended north PAST the pergola shelter. In this photo we can see that it appears that the fence ends before it gets past the north side of the shelter. So if the fence did indeed extend past the north side of the shelter on 11/22/63, then it has apparently been shortened. However, this photo was taken years after the assassination so I don’t see any relevance to the assassination.

[Royell Storing]

The first few feet of the N-S section of the picket fence are visible. Further north it is in the shadows of the large tree so we do not actually see it. The reason I posted this is because you stated the N-S section of the picket fence extended north PAST the pergola shelter. In this photo we can see that it appears that the fence ends before it gets past the north side of the shelter. So if the fence did indeed extend past the north side of the shelter on 11/22/63, then it has apparently been shortened. However, this photo was taken years after the assassination so I don’t see any relevance to the assassination.

   Just my opinion, but the missing section of picket fencing we are discussing is in the same general area as Black Dog Man, Gordon Arnold, and Badge Man. If it was just arbitrarily decided to replace this section of picket fencing when it did Not require such, that's an issue. And that same section of picket fencing looks close to brand new on the You Tube film snippet I previously referenced.  Personally, I still regard Dealey Plaza as a Murder Scene. 

[James Hackerott]

Regarding the pergola on the opposite side of the street, what's the building indicated by the red arrow? It's not the Post Office building.

Sean, Charles Collins has already in this thread identified the building you are asking about as part of the loading infrastructure at the Union Station. I’m belatedly adding some info related to the photo you posted.

I had a chance to visit Dealey Plaza recently. Although the Bowers Tower was not on my agenda I did make video of the Fence-Shelter gap from ground level. I slowly side-walked from the west corner to the east corner. Attached is a frame taken at approximately half the width of the tower that would be under the center window facing south.

I learned from this experiment that the south pergola’s shelter is not responsible for the smallish structure to the right of center in your posted photo. I made the mistake of using that structure as the west pergola shelter, which put my estimation of the photographer's location too far east. I recently found an aerial labeled as from 1968 that shows some structure about 14x14’ and about 50’ SW of the pergola’s west shelter.
https://www.historicaerials.com/location/32.74639398582965/-97.31540992856026/1963/20#

I believe this structure is a shed. It does not show in 1972 or 1958 aerials. I also found2 an on-line (full?) frame version that was possibly the original. Your posted image from which we’ve been studying is cropped. The fuller frame version shows the camera at elevation. I believe that the photo fairly represents a view from Bowers’ tower.

I have only found one contemporaneous photo that shows the Union Station freight handling bridge. It is at upper-right frame as the last building to the west in the Volkland photo. This structure is gone in a 1979 aerial.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1EYOQJcqOn5nymrOqkas6mugzDJCu0Ws_/view?usp=drive_link

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xZeS_7URmL8Z3S25woO5nyobTUDTumt7/view?usp=drive_link

[Royell Storing]

   With respect to the photo you took showing the white car from the driver's side inside the parking lot. Were they working on the N-S picket fence when you took that photo? That N-S section of fence looks shorter and it appears like there is something at a low level stretching from the shelter to the end of the fence.

[James Hackerott]

   With respect to the photo you took showing the white car from the driver's side inside the parking lot. Were they working on the N-S picket fence when you took that photo? That N-S section of fence looks shorter and it appears like there is something at a low level stretching from the shelter to the end of the fence.

Sorry Royell, no work on the fence while I was there. I think there is a great deal of foreshortening of the N-S fence in the Bowers images.

That strip is just sunshine.


https://drive.google.com/file/d/1aYt0hlSpY3A6485BQLJQCHhoO6TdKZ77/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xi9AxgeLk2I7IcCgqgR4DzlDPaB9zQXc/view?usp=sharing

[Royell Storing]

Sorry Royell, no work on the fence while I was there. I think there is a great deal of foreshortening of the N-S fence in the Bowers images.

That strip is just sunshine.


https://drive.google.com/file/d/1aYt0hlSpY3A6485BQLJQCHhoO6TdKZ77/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xi9AxgeLk2I7IcCgqgR4DzlDPaB9zQXc/view?usp=sharing

   Thanks for posting that additional photo. Were they doing some sort of repair/paint work on that shelter near this "sunshine" when you were there? Exterior and interior. I am interested in the general area between the short wall and the N-S picket fence. This includes that pergola shelter. I am hoping whenever the Sixth Floor Museum posts the last half of the Darnell Film that we get a much better look at this area.