Sources · Dispatch

JFK Motorcade Route in Dallas: Street by Street Guide

Dallas, Texas · Filed from the source ledger·Filed 2026-10-26

The motorcade route in Dallas on November 22, 1963 ran about 10 miles from Love Field through suburban neighborhoods, then downtown along Main Street, right onto Houston Street, left onto Elm Street, and out toward Stemmons Freeway and the Dallas Trade Mart, where President Kennedy was due to speak at a luncheon. It never reached the Trade Mart. The shots on Elm Street ended the trip, and the cars raced to Parkland Hospital instead. Below you will find each leg of the route in order, what happened on it, the primary documents that describe it and how to follow it today.

Where the motorcade was going and why

The destination was the Dallas Trade Mart, a luncheon site north of downtown. The Texas State Library and Archives Commission states that the motorcade was scheduled to go from Love Field to the Trade Mart on North Stemmons Freeway and was expected to take 45 minutes.

The Warren Commission chapter at the National Archives says the selected route measured 10 miles and fit that allotted time. It passed through suburban Dallas, continued through downtown on Main Street and reached the Trade Mart via Stemmons Freeway. That mix was deliberate: a motorcade through neighborhoods and a busy downtown puts a president in front of as many people as possible.

The same chapter notes it relies largely on the recollections of participants and, in many instances, on documentary or other evidence. We keep that distinction in mind throughout this guide. Where a fact comes from an official record we say so, and where it rests on memory we treat it more carefully.

The route, leg by leg

The order of streets below follows the NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth timeline and the National Archives account.

Love Field to Lemmon Avenue

According to the National Archives, the motorcade left Love Field shortly after 11:50 a.m. and traveled as fast as 25 to 30 miles per hour through lightly populated outskirts. The president's limousine was an open car, and the early miles were relaxed compared with what came later.

Two unscheduled stops

Kennedy twice told the driver to stop before reaching downtown. The National Archives records one stop so he could respond to a sign asking him to shake hands, and another so he could speak with a Catholic nun and children. NBC 5 places the first stop at about 12:06 p.m. at Lemmon Avenue and Lomo Alto Drive, after Kennedy saw children holding a sign asking him to stop.

These stops matter for anyone reconstructing a timeline. They show that the schedule was already slipping before the cars entered downtown, and they remind us that the president was making spontaneous decisions along the way.

Cedar Springs, Harwood and Main

From Lemmon Avenue the cars turned onto Cedar Springs Road, then onto Harwood Street, then onto Main Street. Downtown, the crowds thickened. The National Archives says the motorcade proceeded west on Main Street to Houston Street, where it turned right.

Houston Street and Elm Street

At Dealey Plaza the motorcade turned right from Main onto Houston, traveled north toward the Texas School Book Depository, and then turned left onto Elm Street toward the Triple Underpass. The Texas State Library's exhibit gives the Depository's address as 411 Elm Street.

The turn is tight. The limousine had to slow sharply to make it, and the National Archives reports that at about 12:30 p.m., with the car on Elm Street at approximately 11 miles per hour, shots mortally wounded Kennedy and wounded Governor Connally. For the hour-by-hour account, see our timeline of November 22, 1963.

After the shooting: Parkland Hospital

The motorcade did not continue to Stemmons Freeway and the Trade Mart luncheon. The cars went to Parkland Hospital. The Portal to Texas History catalogs a Dallas Police Department map of the route from Love Field to Parkland Hospital with mileage listed between key locations, and a separate map of the route taken by the presidential motorcade on the day.

What the maps and surveys show

Two kinds of primary record help you check any retelling of the route.

Police maps. The Dallas Police Department maps at the Portal to Texas History let you compare the printed route with a modern street map. Many streets have changed in name or direction, so use the older map as your guide to the sequence of turns, not as a driving route.

Secret Service survey. Warren Commission Exhibit 768 is a final survey report prepared by Secret Service Special Agent Lawson on Kennedy's Dallas trip. The scanned exhibit in the AARC collection includes route instructions and mileage. It is a good document to read if you want the planners' own words rather than a summary.

For security planning, the House Select Committee on Assassinations devoted a volume to the topic. HSCA Volume XI examines the motorcade's security and route planning, and discusses how alternative destination or plaza approaches would have changed the limousine's position and exposure. The Texas State Library says the plan involved 173 law-enforcement officers along the route or in the motorcade.

If you want to learn how to read documents like these, our guides on analyzing primary sources and finding and verifying JFK assassination files walk through the method.

Why the Elm Street turn confuses people

Most questions about the route concern one thing: why a presidential car would pass the Depository and make a sharp turn. The answer found in the record is practical. The route aimed for Stemmons Freeway, and from Main Street the way onto the freeway ran through Dealey Plaza: Houston, then Elm, then under the Triple Underpass. The National Archives chapter describes the route as the one the Secret Service and Dallas police selected for the trip, and the Texas State Library exhibit documents the itineraries.

Beyond that, claims about who chose or changed the route often outrun the evidence. The HSCA volume is the place to see the committee's own analysis of planning and exposure. When you read an online thread that asserts a change, ask which dated document it rests on. If it cites none, treat it as theory, not record.

Perspective: why we teach this route as a document problem

We built our room around a simple belief: the motorcade route is the best possible introduction to evidence-based history, because every turn can be checked against something. A police map, a survey report, a Warren Commission chapter and a news timeline each describe the same ten miles, and they agree on the core sequence.

In our room, players do not get a fictional villain or a horror set. They get archival scans and period artifacts, and they reconstruct the day from them. The route is part of that reconstruction. If you can say which street the car was on at 12:30 p.m. and name the document that tells you so, you have done what a historian does. We also keep fact and theory visibly apart, because visitors deserve to know which is which. Our map of the day's movements follows the same principle.

— Mark

Following the route today

You can drive the outer parts of the route, but the part most visitors want is downtown, where it is best done on foot.

Start at Main Street. Imagine the cars coming west along Main toward the plaza.

Walk to Houston Street. This is the right turn. Look north to the Depository at 411 Elm Street.

Follow the curve onto Elm Street. Note how close the street is to the building and how it bends toward the underpass.

Look toward the Triple Underpass. This is where the limousine was heading, and where it would have continued toward Stemmons Freeway.

Our field guide to Dealey Plaza explains what you will see at each point, and Dallas JFK sites with archival context covers the other stops in the neighborhood. If you are driving in, read our notes on Dealey Plaza parking before you go. Traffic runs on Elm Street today, so take care at crossings and stay on the sidewalks.

For a deeper look at what happened in the plaza itself, read Dealey Plaza history: an evidence-first account. If you are planning a longer stay, our guide to history attractions in Dallas suggests where to go next.

Visiting with children or a class

The route works well for school groups because it gives students a concrete path and a stack of sources. Students can compare the police map with the Warren Commission text and then check both against the news timeline. Our piece on family history activities in Dallas gives ideas for younger visitors, and choosing evidence over theme for school groups explains how educators can structure the day.

Play the route instead of just reading it

Once you know the route, you can put it to work. Escape from the Sixth Floor is a sixty-minute documentary escape room in Dallas where you and your team reconstruct the events of November 22, 1963 by solving puzzles built from primary documents, Warren Commission findings and period artifacts. There is no fiction and no horror, only evidence. If you are weighing whether it fits your group, see why a documentary escape room is rare, or go to our booking page to reserve a session.

What was the route of the JFK motorcade through Dallas?

It began at Love Field and followed Lemmon Avenue, Cedar Springs Road and Harwood Street to Main Street downtown. It then turned right onto Houston Street and left onto Elm Street, heading toward Stemmons Freeway. The National Archives describes the planned route as 10 miles.

Where was Kennedy's motorcade going?

It was headed for a luncheon at the Dallas Trade Mart. The planned drive from Love Field was expected to take 45 minutes. After the shooting, the cars went to Parkland Hospital instead.

How long was the motorcade route?

The selected route measured 10 miles, per the National Archives. Dallas police maps list the mileage between key points if you want a leg-by-leg breakdown.

Where can I see maps of the route?

The Portal to Texas History hosts Dallas Police Department maps showing the route taken by the motorcade and the route to Parkland Hospital. Both are linked above. Our own Movements Map places the day's key events in sequence.

Sources

Chapter 2: The Assassination, National Archives

JFK's Motorcade Winds Through Dallas, NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

Texas Investigates: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Texas State Library and Archives Commission

Map of Route Taken by President's Motorcade, The Portal to Texas History

Map of the motorcade route from Love Field to Parkland Hospital, The Portal to Texas History

Warren Commission Volume XVII, CE 768 Final survey, AARC

HSCA Volume XI: Politics and Presidential Protection, AARC