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Ford's Theatre

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This article is about a historic site. For the television series of a similar name, see Ford Theatre.
Ford's Theatre National Historic Site
IUCN category V (protected landscape/seascape)
Map
LocationWashington, D.C., USA
Area0.29 acre (1200 m²)
EstablishedFebruary 12, 1932
Visitors856,079 (in 2005)
Governing bodyNational Park Service

Ford's Theatre is an historic theatre in Washington, D.C., used for various stage performances beginning in the 1860s. It is also the site of the assassination of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln on April 14, 1865. After being shot, the fatally wounded President was carried across the street to the Petersen House, where he died the next morning. The theatre and house are preserved together as Ford's Theatre National Historic Site.

Ford's Theatre is located at 511 10th Street, NW.

Theatre

Ford's Theatre in the 19th century — photo by Mathew Brady.

The site was originally a house of worship, constructed in 1833 as the First Baptist Church of Washington. In 1861, after the congregation relocated to a newly built structure, John T. Ford bought the former church and renovated it into a theatre. He first called it Ford's Athenaeum. It was gutted by fire in 1862, and was rebuilt, opening the following year as Ford's New Theatre.

Just five days after General Lee's surrender at Appomattox Court House, Lincoln sat in the "State Box" watching Our American Cousin. A well-known actor, John Wilkes Booth, desperate to aid the dying Confederacy, stepped into the box and shot Lincoln in the back of the head. He then jumped onto the stage, and cried out "Sic semper tyrannis" (some heard "The South is avenged!") just before escaping through the alley.

The assassination of Abraham Lincoln. From left to right: Henry Rathbone, Clara Harris, Mary Todd Lincoln, Lincoln, and Booth.

The United States Government seized the theatre, with Congress paying Ford $100,000 in compensation, and an order was issued forever prohibiting its use as a place of public amusement. The theatre was eventually taken over by the U.S. military and served as the home of the records of the War Department records on the first floor, the Library of the Surgeon General's Office on the second floor, and the Army Medical Museum, during the period 1866-1887. In 1887 the medical uses were eliminated and it became a War Department clerk's office. The front part of the building collapsed on June 9, 1893, and killed 22 of those clerks, injuring another 68. This led some to believe that the former church turned theater and storeroom was cursed. The building was repaired and used as a government warehouse until 1931.

It languished unused until 1954, when Congress approved funds for its restoration, which began in 1964 and was completed in 1968. Since then, Ford's Theatre has been both an active theater presenting plays and musicals and a historic site remembering the assassination of the 16th U.S. President.[1] The museum beneath the theatre contains portions of the Olroyd Collection of Lincolniana. On display are multiple items related to the assassination, including the Derringer pistol used to carry out the shooting, Booth's diary, and the original door to Lincoln's theatre box. In addition, some of Lincoln's family items, his coat (without the blood stained pieces), some statues of Lincoln, and some large portraits of the president, are on display in the museum.

Ford's Theatre today

Petersen House

The bed Abraham Lincoln died upon at Petersen House, now located at the Chicago Historical Society.
The room Abraham Lincoln died in at Petersen House. The wallpaper was copied by Stephane Boudin and used as a border in the Treaty Room at the White House during the Kennedy Administration.
Abraham Lincoln's box at Ford's theatre as it appears today.
Ford's Theatre located on 10th Street NW — a historic landmark in a neighborhood that is undergoing gentrification with new condos and office buildings.

Attendants, including Dr. Charles Leale, carried the President onto 10th street. The doctor decided to take him to Petersen's boarding house across the street. The streets were extremely crowded with people, because of the uproar. A captain cleared the way to the brick federal style rowhouse. A boarder, Henry Safford, noticed what was going on and stood on the front steps crying, "Bring him in here, bring him in here!" Then he was taken into the bedroom in the rear of the parlors and placed on a bed that was not long enough for him. Mrs. Lincoln was escorted across the street by Clara Harris, who had been in the box during the shooting, and whose fiancée, Henry Rathbone, had been stabbed by Booth during the assassination. Rathbone, bleeding severely from the knife wound in his arm, collapsed due to loss of blood after arriving at the Petersen House.

During the night and early morning, military guards patrolled outside to prevent onlookers from coming inside the house. A parade of government officials and physicians was allowed to come inside and pay respects to the unconscious President. Physicians continually removed blood clots which formed over the wound and poured out the excess brain fluid and brain matter from where the bullet had entered Lincoln's head in order to relieve pressure on the brain. However, the external and internal hemorrhaging continued throughout the night. Lincoln died in the house on April 15, 1865, at 7:22 a.m., at age 56. Among the attending physicians was Anderson Ruffin Abbott, a black, Canadian-educated doctor who later wrote “Some recollections of Lincoln’s assassination".

Administrative history

The theater was authorized for federal purchase on April 7, 1866. The Petersen House was authorized as the House Where Lincoln Died on June 11, 1896. Both structures were transferred from the Office of Public Buildings and Public Parks of the National Capital to the National Park Service on August 10, 1933. They were combined as Ford's Theatre National Historic Site on June 23, 1970, which is currently administered as part of National Mall and Memorial Parks

The building has gone through a few name changes. It was designated the Lincoln Museum on February 12, 1932, then redesignated Ford's Theatre (Lincoln Museum) on April 14, 1965.

The theatre was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966. The non-profit Ford's Theatre Society has an exclusive contract with the National Park Service for the Theatre's stage performances.[1]

In May 2007 the theatre closed for an 18 month restoration project. In October 2007, plans were announced for several millions dollars to be spent on a Lincoln Campus around the theatre building.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b "History, Ford's Theatre website". 2007. Retrieved 2007-11-15.
  2. ^ Vincent Dowd, "'Lincoln Campus' plan for theatre", BBC News, October 27, 2007.

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ford's Theatre.
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