TYLER, Texas — A macabre, but important piece of American history is on display in Tyler.
The window from which Lee Harvey Oswald fired the shots that killed President John F. Kennedy on Nov. 22, 1963, was removed from the Texas Schoolbook Depository weeks after the assassination.
D. Harold Byrd, the owner of the depository, kept the window to protect and preserve the artifact.
"After the Kennedy assassination, he took the window out of the building because he was afraid people would chip and take pieces off of it," Fred McLane, the window's previous owner, said. "It stayed in his home until he died."
Byrd's son Caruth inherited the window and gave it to the Sixth Floor Museum in 1994 as a loan.
"It stayed in the museum in Dallas for close to 12 years," McLane explained.
More than a decade after loaning the window to the museum, McLane, who was a partner of Caruth, says Caruth decided to sell the artifact to support a wildlife foundation.
However, he never sold the window and died with the artifact in storage in Van.
The Caruth Byrd Estate approached Don McPherson, owner of the American Gold and Diamond Exchange, about purchasing the window.
"[It's] just history. Pure history," McPherson said. "When I, I guess, had a chance to own a piece of [the JFK assassination], I just decided to do it."
McPherson is displaying the historic window at his store on South Broadway Avenue. The store is open from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. Monday - Friday and 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. Saturday.
"Right now, [my plan is to] just leave it on display so anyone who wants to see can see it and experience it for themselves," McPherson said.
However, McPherson says he is open to donating it to a museum.
Artifacts linked to the Kennedy assassination are littered throughout the country.
Some are at the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza in Dallas, in the former depository building. Much of the collection contact photographs and newspapers from the assassination and throughout Kennedy's brief but historic presidency.
Most of the major artifacts from the assassination are in the National Archives in Washington D.C., not available for public display.
Among the Kennedy artifacts are the Italian-made rifle Oswald used, bullet fragments found in the president's head, the blood-stained pink outfit First Lady Jackie Kennedy wore and the 8mm camera used by Abraham Zapruder that captured the assassination.
Perhaps the most important artifact not in the archives is the 1961 Lincoln Continental Limousine President Kennedy, his wife and former Texas governor John Connally were riding in then the fatal shooting occurred.
The car, dubbed X-100, continued to service to the President of the United States, though the vehicle went through major upgrades after the assassination. After being retired in 1977, the vehicle was bought by the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, MI, outside of Detroit. It remains on display alongside other notable presidential cars.
