This geocache is part of a 14 cache GeoTrail series. To complete the GeoTrail download the Passport here. You will need to take the passport with you to each cache and be ready to write, punch or stamp the appropriate markings. Once complete, follow the instructions to receive your commemorative token.
Lee Harvey Oswald first came to stay at this boarding house on October 14th, 1963. The house has since gotten a lot of attention considering Oswald lived there for less than 6 weeks. The interest in the residence is largely due to Oswald’s return to the house immediately after his assassination of President Kennedy. After discharging 3 shots and ditching his rifle down the hall from his sniper nest on the 6th floor of the Book School Depository, Oswald left the building and headed east into Dallas towards a bus stop. After a brief bus ride of only a block since the traffic was at a standstill and not moving westward towards Dealey Plaza, he got out and walked several blocks until he was able to flag down a taxi for the first taxi ride of his life. He directed the taxi to take him several blocks away from the house and walked the rest of the way. Upon his return to his room, he gathered up his handgun and remaining cash and soon headed out again on foot. Before he got far, he attracted the attention of Police Officer JD Tippit who pulled over in his police cruiser to investigate his suspicions.
Oswald rented his room in this house under the alias, O. H. Lee. For $8 per week he got a very small bedroom with a small metal framed twin bed and a dresser. He also had refrigerator and living room privileges. The location turned out to be very convenient when the next day, he applied for and received his job at the Texas School Book Depository, which gave him his access to the 6th floor window the day the Presidential motorcade wound down Elm Street, right next to his perch. The job as an “order filler” paid him minimum wage ($1.25/hr) and began the day after he applied.
The owner who rented the room to Oswald was Gladys Johnson, who lived there with her granddaughter (Pat Hall, the current owner) and 2 grandsons. The house was recently on the market for more than 4 months at an asking price of $500,000 even though the Dallas Central Appraisal District tax rolls value the property and the house at just over $60,000. Apparently despite the historical tie-in with Oswald, no one else valued the property anywhere near that, as the only offer was declined. The house has been taken back off the market and Mrs. Hall is offering tours of Oswald’s bedroom and the common areas for $20 a person. It is common to see JFK tour buses drive by. As the buses stop at the red light in front of the house, bus patrons look toward the house (many of them probably looking for new clues), which hilariously gets most of the other drivers at the light looking over their right shoulders to see what all the fuss is about.