John Neely Bryan

Replica of John Neely Bryan's cabin, Founders Plaza, Dallas, Texas.

John Neely Bryan (December 24, 1810 – September 8, 1877) was a Presbyterian farmer, lawyer, and tradesman in the United States and founder of the city of Dallas, Texas.

Early life Bryan was born to James and Elizabeth (Neely) Bryan in Fayetteville, Tennessee. There, he attended the Fayetteville Military Academy and, after studying law, was admitted to the Tennessee Bar. Around 1833, he left Tennessee and moved to Arkansas, where he was an Indian trader. According to some sources, he and a business partner laid out Van Buren, Arkansas.

Exploring Dallas Bryan visited the Dallas area in 1839, and in 1841, he established a permanent settlement, which eventually became the burgeoning city of Dallas.

Establishment of Dallas Bryan was significant to early Dallas — he served as the postmaster, a store owner, a ferry operator (he operated a ferry where Commerce Street crosses the Trinity River today), and his home served as the courthouse. In 1844, he persuaded J. P. Dumas to survey and plot the site of Dallas and possibly help him with the work. Bryan was instrumental in the organizing of Dallas County in 1846 and the election by voters of Dallas as its county seat in August 1850 (over the towns of Cedar Springs and Oak Cliff). When Dallas became the county seat, Bryan donated the land for the courthouse. In 1843, he married Margaret Beeman, a daughter of the Beeman family who settled in Dallas from Bird's Fort. The couple had five children. He is believed to be buried in an unmarked grave in the southeast quadrant of the Austin State Hospital Cemetery. In 2006, Bryan's descendants placed a headstone in the cemetery that reads "PVT 18 Texas CAV CSA Dec 24 1810 Sep 8 1877 Founder of Dallas Texas."

In 1954, the James Butler Bonham chapter of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas erected a white granite marker honoring the Dallas founder in Pioneer Cemetery (Pioneer Plaza).

A large marker bearing the name "Bryan" and displaying two "Citizen of the Republic of Texas" medallions honoring John Neely Bryan and his wife stands in Riverside Cemetery at Wichita Falls, Texas. It overlooks the graves of Margaret Beeman Bryan (1825-1919), her son John Neely Bryan, Jr. (1846-1926), and other family members.

A Texas Historical Marker, "Beeman Memorial Cemetery," located east of downtown Dallas just off of Dolphin Road, states that John Neely Bryan is buried in the Beeman family plot of his wife, Margaret, and other Beeman family members. This cemetery is somewhat difficult to locate, but is located just behind a large Jewish Cemetery (Shearith Israel) on Dolphin Road just south of Military Parkway.

The Bryan Pergola, standing on the Grassy Knoll in Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas, is named after John Neely Bryan (1810-1877), the recognized founder of the City of Dallas.

Dallas Independent School District named John Neely Bryan Elementary after him.

Cultural references The concrete pergola upon which Abraham Zapruder was standing during the John F. Kennedy assassination as he made the Zapruder film was initially placed in Dealey Plaza in honor of Bryan, and is named for him.