Ford's Theater
Ford's Theater, the most famous theater in American history, stands on the former site of the First Baptist Church, built in 1833. Entrepreneur John T. Ford took over the building in 1861, turning the house of worship into a theater despite the predictions of a dire fate for doing so from a former church member. Indeed, the theater burned down in 1862, but Ford rebuilt to an elaborate new design and reopened in 1863. On April 15, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln, who had been to Ford's Theater several times before, went to a showing of the popular comedy Our American Cousin with his wife Mary Todd. On this fateful night actor and Confederate-sympathizer John Wilkes Booth, who was not performing in the play, stepped into Lincoln's presidential box and shot him in the back of the head at point-blank range. Lincoln died of his wounds early the next day, leaving the nation leaderless at a critical time, torn apart by Civil War and just barely starting the painful process of Reconstruction. Today Ford’s Theater is open to the public as a National Historic Site, organized by the National Park Service and showing special performances through the Ford’s Theater Society.- See the Presidential Box, decorated with American flags and a portrait of President George Washington, just as it was prepared for President Lincoln’s last visit to the theater
- Explore 19th century Washington D.C., Lincoln's presidency, and John Wilkes Booth’s plot at the Ford's Theater Museum
- Watch a performance of One Destiny, a one-act play portraying the events of April 14, 1865 (pending schedules)
- Go across the street to visit the Petersen House, the house where Lincoln died
http://www.nps.gov/foth/index.htm or http://www.fords.org/.
