Timeline of The John F. Kennedy Assassination - Presidential Motorcade Route

Presidential Motorcade Route

The route scheduled to be driven was as follows: left turn from the south end of Love Field to West Mockingbird Lane, right on Lemmon Ave., right at the "Y" on Turtle Creek Blvd, straight on Cedar Springs Rd, left on North Harwood St, right on Main St, right on Houston St, sharp left on Elm St, through Triple Underpass, right turn up ramp to North Stemmons Freeway, to Dallas Trade Mart at 2100 North Stemmons (This same exact route cannot be driven today; there is a "No right turn" sign on the corner of Main and Houston as well as highway progressions in other areas)

The original route had the motorcade continue straight onto Main instead of turning onto Houston, but it was discovered that Elm Street provided the only direct link from Dealey Plaza to the Stemmons Freeway, thus the route was altered.

The presidential motorcade began its route without incident, stopping twice so President Kennedy could shake hands with some Catholic nuns, then some school children.

At 12:29 pm CST, the presidential limousine entered Dealey Plaza after a 90-degree right turn from Main Street onto Houston Street. Over two dozen known and unknown amateur and professional still and motion-picture photographers captured the last living images of President Kennedy.

Just before 12:30 pm CST, President Kennedy was riding on Houston Street and slowly approached the Texas School Book Depository head-on. This point in the route gives birth to one of the better conspiracy theories that there were several shooters, for if there was only a single shooter in the sixth floor in the Book Depository, the shooter would have had a much better view of the President on Houston Street, slowly coming towards the shooter, not when the President was moving away from the shooter on Elm Street. Then the limousine made the 120-degree left turn directly in front of the depository, now only 65 feet (20 meters) away.