View source for Ford's Theatre

{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2022}}
{{other uses of|Ford Theatre}}
{{short description|Theater in Washington, D.C.}}
{{Use American English|date=March 2017}}
{{Infobox theatre
| name = Ford's Theatre
| native_name = 
| native_name_lang = <!-- ISO 639-2 code e.g. "fr" for French. If more than one, use {{lang}} instead -->
| image = Ford's Theatre 2016.jpg
| image_size = 250px
| image_alt = 
| caption = 
| logo_image = Ford's_Theatre_Logo.svg
| image_map = 
| map_caption = 
| pushpin_map = 
| pushpin_map_caption = 
| address = 511 10th St, N.W.
| city = [[Washington, D.C.]]
| country = [[United States]]
| designation = 
| architect = 
| owner = [[National Park Service]]
| tenant = 
| operator = Ford's Theatre Society
| capacity = 665
| type = Regional theater
| opened = {{Start date and age|1863|8}}
| reopened = 1968, 2009
| yearsactive = 
| rebuilt = 
| closed = 
| demolished = 
| othernames = 
| production = 
| currentuse = 
| website = {{URL|http://www.fords.org}}
{{Infobox NRHP
 |embed = yes
 |name = Ford's Theatre National Historic Site
 |nrhp_type = nhs
 |image = 
 |caption = 
 |location = 
 |coordinates = {{Coord|38|53|48|N|77|1|33|W|display=inline,title}}
 |locmapin = United States Washington, D.C. central#Washington, D.C.#USA
 |built = 1863
 |architect = 
 |architecture = Late Victorian
 |added = October 15, 1966
 |visitation_num = 856,079
 |visitation_year = 2005
 |area = {{cvt|0.29|acre}} (theater alone) less than one acre (entire NHS)
 |refnum = 66000034<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|2009a}}</ref>
 |website = [https://www.nps.gov/foth/index.htm Ford's Theatre National Historic Site]
 }}
}}
'''Ford's Theatre''' is a theater in [[Washington, D.C.]], which opened in 1863. The theater is best known for being the site of the [[assassination of Abraham Lincoln]]. On the night of April 14, 1865, [[John Wilkes Booth]] entered the theater box where Lincoln was watching a performance of [[Tom Taylor]]'s play ''[[Our American Cousin]]'', slipped the single-shot, 5.87-inch [[derringer]] from his pocket and fired at Lincoln's head. After being shot, the fatally wounded Lincoln was carried across the street to the nearby [[Petersen House]], where he died the next morning.

The theater was later used as a warehouse and government office building. In 1893, part of its interior flooring collapsed, causing 22 deaths, and needed repairs were made. The building became a museum in 1932, and it was renovated and re-opened as a theater in 1968.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://fords.org/about |title=About · Ford's Theatre |website=fords.org}}</ref> A related Center for Education and Leadership museum opened in 2012, next to Petersen House.

The Petersen House and the theater are preserved together as '''Ford's Theatre National Historic Site''', administered by the [[National Park Service]]. Programming within the theater and the Center for Education is overseen separately by the Ford's Theatre Society.

== History ==

The site was originally a house of worship, constructed in 1833 as the second meeting house of the [[The First Baptist Church of the City of Washington, DC|First Baptist Church]] of Washington, with [[Obadiah Bruen Brown]] as the pastor. In 1861, after the congregation moved to a newly built structure, [[John T. Ford]] bought the former church and renovated it into a theater. He first called it Ford's Athenaeum. It was destroyed by fire in 1862 and was rebuilt.

=== Assassination of President Lincoln ===
{{See also|Assassination of Abraham Lincoln}}
[[File:Lincoln assassination slide c1900 - Restoration.jpg|left|thumb|Depiction of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, showing [[John Wilkes Booth|Booth]], [[Abraham Lincoln|Lincoln]], [[Mary Todd Lincoln]], [[Clara Harris]], and [[Henry Rathbone]]]]
On April 14, 1865—five days after [[Robert E. Lee|General Lee]]'s surrender at [[Appomattox Court House National Historical Park|Appomattox Court House]]—Lincoln and his wife attended a performance of ''[[Our American Cousin]]'' at Ford's Theatre. The famous actor [[John Wilkes Booth]], desperate to aid the dying [[Confederate States of America|Confederacy]], made his way into the presidential box and shot Lincoln. Booth then jumped down to the stage and escaped through a rear door.<ref>{{cite book |last=Donald |first=David Herbert |author-link=David Herbert Donald |title=Lincoln |url=https://archive.org/details/lincoln00dona |url-access=registration |publisher=Simon & Schuster |location=New York |year=1995 |isbn=0-684-80846-3}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Smith |first=Gene |title=American Gothic: the story of America's legendary theatrical family, Junius, Edwin, and John Wilkes Booth |publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]] |location=New York |year=1992 |isbn=0-671-76713-5 |page=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780671767136/page/154 154] |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780671767136/page/154}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Goodrich |first=Thomas |title=The Darkest Dawn |url=https://archive.org/details/darkestdawnlinco00good |url-access=limited |publisher=Indiana University |location=Bloomington, Ind. |year=2005 |isbn=0-253-32599-4 |page=[https://archive.org/details/darkestdawnlinco00good/page/n107 97]}}</ref> This was witnessed by a theater full of people, possibly including the then 5-year-old [[Samuel J. Seymour]] who claimed to be the last living witness to the Lincoln assassination before his death in 1956.<ref>{{cite web |title=Last Witness to President Abraham Lincoln Assassination I've Got A Secret |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RPoymt3Jx4 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211117/1RPoymt3Jx4 |archive-date=November 17, 2021 |url-status=live |website=Youtube | date=March 10, 2016 |publisher=I've Got a Secret |access-date=August 2, 2020}}{{cbignore}}</ref> 

Following the assassination, the theater was shut down for a criminal investigation which continued until Booth's co-conspirators were executed in July 1865. Once it was in his possession again, Ford announced that the theater would reopen on July 10, 1865, with a performance of ''[[The Octoroon]]; or, Life in Louisiana''.<ref name=nps-collapse>[https://www.nps.gov/foth/learn/historyculture/the-collapse-of-ford-s-theatre.htm "The Collapse of Ford's Theatre"], Ford's Theatre National Historic Site, National Park Service. Accessed on March 20, 2025.</ref> It was advertised that "the Theatre is in the same condition as when last opened to the public", and that Ford planned to give some of the proceeds to a fund for the construction of a monument to Lincoln, as he had done at his other theater in Baltimore.<ref>{{cite news |title=Amusements. Ford's New Theatre. Reopening Night |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/national-republican/111686798 |page=3 |access-date=March 21, 2025 |work=[[National Republican (newspaper)|National Republican]] |date=July 6, 1865|via=Newspapers.Com}}</ref> However, Ford was met with angry letters and threats. On the night of the reopening, Secretary of War [[Edwin Stanton]] had the theater seized again to prevent any incidents and dispersed the crowd waiting to enter.<ref name=nps-collapse/>

The next day, Ford was told that the theater had been confiscated permanently.<ref name=nps-collapse/> [[United States Congress|Congress]] paid Ford $88,000 {{USDCY|88000|1865}} in compensation,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Anderson |first1=Brian |title=Ford's Theatre - Images of American series |date=2014 |publisher=[[Arcadia Publishing]] |page=52|isbn=978-1-4671-2112-5}}</ref> and an order was issued forever prohibiting its use as a place of public amusement. Between 1866 and 1887, the theater was taken over by the U.S. military and served as a facility for the [[United States Department of War|War Department]] with records kept on the first floor, the [[Library of the Surgeon General's Office]] on the second floor, and the [[National Museum of Health and Medicine|Army Medical Museum]] on the third. In 1887, the building exclusively became a clerk's office for the Record and Pension Office of the War Department when the medical departments moved out.
<gallery mode=packed heights=180>
File:Ford's Theatre interior, Washington, D.C.jpg|View from beneath the balcony. The Presidential Box is on the right.
File:Fords Theatre 1865.jpg|Ford's Theatre in 1865
</gallery>

=== Disrepair and restoration ===
{{See also|United States Congress Joint Committee on the Ford's Theater Disaster}}

On June 9, 1893, the front section of the three interior floors collapsed when a supporting pillar was undermined during excavation of the cellar, killing 22 clerks and injuring another 68. This led some people to believe that the former church turned theater and storeroom was cursed. The building was repaired and Record and Pension Office clerks were moved back on July 30, 1894.<ref>{{Cite news |date=July 31, 1894 |title=Pronounced Safe - Ford's Theatre Building to Be Again Occupied |work=The Evening Star |url=https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83045462/1894-07-31/ed-1/?sp=5&q=record+and+pension+office&r=-0.567,0.149,2.135,1.136,0}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=July 31, 1894 |title=Back to the Death Trap - Fateful Ford Theater Building Again Occupied by Clerks |work=The Washington Times |url=https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn87062244/1894-07-31/ed-1/?sp=1&q=record+and+pension+office&r=0.545,0.086,0.799,0.425,0}}</ref>

In 1928,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Anderson |first1=Brian |title=Ford's Theatre - Images of American series |date=2014 |publisher=[[Arcadia Publishing]] |page=68|isbn=978-1-4671-2112-5}}</ref> the building was turned over from the War Department Office to the Office of Public Buildings and Parks of the National Capital. A Lincoln museum opened on the first floor of the theater building on February 12, 1932—Lincoln's 123rd birthday.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Anderson |first1=Brian |title=Ford's Theatre - Images of American series |date=2014 |publisher=[[Arcadia Publishing]] |page=72|isbn=978-1-4671-2112-5}}</ref> In 1933, the building was transferred to the [[National Park Service]].

The restoration of Ford's Theatre was brought about by the two-decade-long lobbying efforts of Democratic National Committeeman Melvin D. Hildreth and Republican [[North Dakota]] Representative [[Milton Young]]. Hildreth first suggested to Young the need for its restoration in 1945. Through extensive lobbying of Congress, a bill was passed in 1955 to prepare an engineering study for the reconstruction of the building.<ref>Eva Reffell, Ford's Theatre's Reconstruction: Warehouse, Museum, Pilgrimage Site (1865–1968), {{cite web |url=http://www.si.umich.edu/~rfrost/courses/ArchivesSem/papers/EvaReffell.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=January 3, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090206150336/http://www.si.umich.edu/~rfrost/courses/ArchivesSem/papers/EvaReffell.pdf |archive-date=February 6, 2009}}.</ref> In 1964, Congress approved funds for its restoration, which began that year and was completed in 1968.

On January 21, 1968, Vice President [[Hubert Humphrey]] and 500 others dedicated the restored theater.<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1665&dat=19680122&id=VFRPAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ViQEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3896,1364150&hl=en "Ford's Theater, Now Restored, Is Dedicated"]. ''The Times News'', Henderson, NC. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221231032353/https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1665&dat=19680122&id=VFRPAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ViQEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3896,1364150&hl=en |date=December 31, 2022 }}</ref> The theater reopened on January 30, 1968, with a gala performance.<ref>Theodore Mann, ''Journeys in the Night: Creating a New American Theatre with Circle in the Square'' (NY: Applause Theatre and Cinema Books, 2007), 234–5</ref>
The presidential box is never occupied.<ref>Swanson, James. ''Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer''. Harper Collins, 2006. {{ISBN|978-0-06-051849-3}}. pp. 381{{ndash}}2.</ref>

The theater was again renovated during the 2000s. It has a current seating capacity of 665.<ref>Select Traveler Magazine: [http://selecttraveler.com/articles/restored-theaters-stage-presence "Restored Theaters: Stage presence", May 13, 2010] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160701014322/http://selecttraveler.com/articles/restored-theaters-stage-presence/ |date=July 1, 2016 }}</ref> The reopening ceremony was on February 11, 2009,<ref>{{cite news |title=Ford's Theatre Reopening |url=http://www.upi.com/News_Photos/Entertainment/Fords-Theater-reopening/fp/1527 |publisher=United Press International |date=February 11, 2009}}</ref> which commemorated Lincoln's 200th birthday. The event featured remarks from President [[Barack Obama]] as well as appearances by [[Katie Couric]], [[Kelsey Grammer]], [[James Earl Jones]], [[Ben Vereen]], [[Jeffrey Wright]], the President's Own [[Marine Band]], [[Joshua Bell]], [[Patrick Lundy]] and the Ministers of Music, [[Audra McDonald]] and [[Jessye Norman]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Marks |first1=Peter |title=At Historic Ford's Theatre, an Evening of Tributes to Lincoln's Legacy |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/11/AR2009021104586.html |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=February 12, 2009}}</ref>

In March of every year, the [[Abraham Lincoln Institute]] holds a symposium at Ford's Theatre.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://lincoln-institute.org/|title=Abraham Lincoln Institute, Inc. &#124; The Life and Legacy of President Abraham Lincoln|website=Abraham Lincoln Institute, Inc.}}</ref>

== Ford's Theatre National Historic Site ==
The National Historic Site consisting of two contributing buildings, the theater and the Petersen House, was designated in 1932.

[[File:The pillow used under Lincoln’s head after his assassination.jpg|thumb|The pillow used under Lincoln’s head after his assassination at the Ford Theatre Museum. Blood stains are visible on the top of the pillow.]]
The Ford's Theatre Museum beneath the theater contains portions of the Olroyd Collection of Lincolniana. Most recently renovated for a July 2009 reopening,<ref>{{cite news |title=Ford's Theatre Museum to Unveil New Artifacts |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/08/AR2009070801821.html |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=July 9, 2009}}</ref> the Museum is run through a partnership with the National Park Service and the private non-profit [[501(c)(3) organization]] Ford's Theatre Society. The collection includes 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 theater box. In addition, a number of Lincoln's family items, his coat (without the blood-stained pieces), some statues of Lincoln and several large portraits of the President are on display in the museum. The blood-stained pillow from the President's deathbed is in the Ford's Theatre Museum. In addition to covering the assassination conspiracy, the renovated museum focuses on Lincoln's arrival in Washington, his presidential cabinet, family life in the White House and his role as orator and emancipator.<ref>{{cite news |last1=O'Sullivan |first1=Michael |title=Ford's Theatre Museum Reopens; New Displays Focus on Lincoln's Life |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/16/AR2009071601075.html |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=July 17, 2009}}</ref> The museum also features exhibits about Civil War milestones and generals and about the building's history as a theatrical venue. The rocking chair in which Lincoln was sitting is now on display at [[The Henry Ford Museum]] in [[Dearborn, Michigan]].

=== Petersen House ===
{{Main|Petersen House}}
[[File:Petersen House, Washington, D.C.IMG 4512.JPG|right|thumb|Lincoln died in [[Petersen House]], across from Ford's Theatre.]]

After Lincoln was shot, doctors had soldiers carry him into the street in search of a house in which he would be more comfortable. A man on the steps of the house of tailor William Petersen beckoned to them. They took Lincoln into the first-floor bedroom and laid him on the bed—diagonally because of his unusual height. Many people came to visit him throughout the night before he died the following morning at 7:22&nbsp;a.m.

The Petersen House was purchased by the U.S. government in 1896 as the "House Where Lincoln Died", being the federal government's first purchase of a historic home.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Hartley |first1=Allison |title=Eccentricities from our Archives: The Man Who Collected Lincoln |url=http://www.fords.org/blogs/fords-theatre/man-who-collected-lincoln |website=www.fords.org |publisher=The Ford's Theatre National Historic Site |access-date=November 25, 2016 |date=July 22, 2013}}</ref>
The National Park Service has operated the building as a [[historic house museum]] since 1933, with the rooms being furnished as they were on the night Lincoln died.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fordstheatre.org/home/performances-events/tours/petersen-house |title=Petersen House |access-date=April 19, 2009 |archive-date=March 26, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090326072931/http://www.fordstheatre.org/home/performances-events/tours/petersen-house |url-status=dead }}</ref>

== See also ==
*[[Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Site]]
*[[Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum]]
*[[Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial]]
*[[Lincoln Home National Historic Site]]
*[[Lincoln Memorial]]
*[[Lincoln Memorial University]]
*[[Lincoln Tomb]]
*[[Mount Rushmore]]
*[[National Register of Historic Places listings in central Washington, D.C.]]
*[[Theater in Washington, D.C.]]
*[[President Lincoln's Cottage]]
*[[Presidential memorials in the United States]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category|Ford's Theatre}}
*Official [[National Park Service|NPS]] website: [https://www.nps.gov/foth/index.htm Ford's Theatre National Historic Site]
*[http://www.fords.org/ Ford's Theatre Society] including Center for Education and Leadership, theater Box Office
*[http://boothiebarn.com/2012/06/09/the-collapse-of-fords-theatre/ The 1893 collapse of Ford's Theatre]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20131025013438/http://rogerjnorton.com/Lincoln.html Abraham Lincoln's Assassination]
*[http://rogerjnorton.com/Lincoln72.html The Life and Plot of John Wilkes Booth]
*[http://speakingofhistory.blogspot.com/2006/12/podcast-52-visit-to-fords-theatre-in.html Podcast with the curator of Ford's Theatre from the Speaking of History Podcast – MP3 file]
*[http://speakingofhistory.blogspot.com/2007/02/podcast-70-park-ranger-talk-from-fords.html Podcast of the Ranger Talk for visitors from Ford's Theatre from the Speaking of History Podcast]
*[https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/fords-theatre Ford's Theatre at Google Cultural Institute]
*{{cite news |title=A Living Museum |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=July 15, 2009 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2009/02/07/arts/design/20090207-lincoln-slideshow_index.html |format=Slideshow |access-date=July 15, 2009}}

{{Abraham Lincoln}}
{{Washington DC landmarks}}
{{National Register of Historic Places}}
{{Protected areas of the District of Columbia}}
{{National Medal of Arts recipients 2000s}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1861 establishments in Washington, D.C.]]
[[Category:Assassination of Abraham Lincoln]]
[[Category:Assassination sites]]
[[Category:Churches completed in 1833]]
[[Category:Former churches in Washington, D.C.]]
[[Category:Georgian Revival architecture in Washington, D.C.]]
[[Category:History museums in Washington, D.C.]]
[[Category:League of Washington Theatres]]
[[Category:Members of the Cultural Alliance of Greater Washington]]
[[Category:Monuments and memorials to Abraham Lincoln in the United States]]
[[Category:National Historic Sites in Washington, D.C.]]
[[Category:National Mall and Memorial Parks]]
[[Category:Neoclassical architecture in Washington, D.C.]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures in Penn Quarter]]
[[Category:Presidential museums in Washington, D.C.]]
[[Category:Theatres on the National Register of Historic Places in Washington, D.C.]]
[[Category:Tourist attractions in Washington, D.C.]]
[[Category:United States National Medal of Arts recipients]]
[[Category:Victorian architecture in Washington, D.C.]]
[[Category:Washington, D.C., in the American Civil War]]