Ford's Theater

          Right now it is 12PM and we are Skyping with Alice from Ford's Theater in Washington D.C. She is across the street virtually showing us the theater.
          Ford's Theater was originally purchased by the Ford Brothers and turned into the Ford Theater in 1863. On April 9, 1865 the Civil War ended with Robert E. Lee surrendering. People celebrated the end of the war at the White House. President Abraham Lincoln spoke about granting voting rights to African Americans who fought for the Union in the war.  John Wilkes Booth, a strong patriot, was in the crowd and did not like what President Lincoln was saying. On April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth heard about President Lincoln and his wife coming to see the play Our American Cousin. The theater was decorated for the president and prepared for his arrival. On that night, there were almost 2,000 people. Before the show John Wilkes Booth had prepared a plan to assassinate President Lincoln, the Vice President, and the Secretary of State. When the president arrived late, the show was stopped for him and his wife, Mary, and they were applauded. At about 10PM, Booth came into the theater, crossed the balcony, and went into the presidential box. It didn't all go according to plan, because the Secretary of State was only injured, and the Vice President was not injured at all. He fired a shot into the back of Lincoln's head and Lincoln immediately went unconscious. A friend of President Lincoln's, and Major in the Army, attempted to help. He ran into the presidential box, which was when Booth pulled a knife on him and stabbed the Major from his elbow to shoulder.  Booth jumped from the box, exited the theater, and jumped on his horse in the alley and galloped away. After it was determined that President Lincoln would not live, he was carried across the street to the Peterson Boarding House, where he died the next morning. Lincoln's body was taken home to Illinois where a big funeral was held for him.
          The whole city was in mourning, and a reward had been put out for Booth. Over the course of 12 days, Booth traveled all the way down to Maryland. He was eventually found and refused to surrender, causing the soldiers to shoot him. His last words were, "Tell my mother I died for my country."
          After the assassination, the theater was closed to the public, and soldiers were put outside of it to stop the public from entering. The Ford brothers tried to re-open the theater with a show, but no one wanted to come see a show in the theater where President Lincoln was assassinated. The Ford brothers ended up selling the theater to the government, who gutted it and later turned it into an Army medical museum and an office space. Later on, the building collapsed killing 22 people.  The government gutted the building again and turned it back into a museum and an office building. The theater was reopened 103 years after the assassination of President Lincoln. The museum has been re-done several times in an attempt to return it to its original look all while making the theater a place where people can come see plays and learn its story.

This is a famous illustration of when Booth goes into the presidential room and shoots Lincoln. The Major is running in on the left.

 

The photo on the left is a crime scene photo, and the one on the right is the presidential box right now.

This is Ford's Theater today.

          Today Ford's has a museum underneath the theater and it is also a working theater. They now do all sorts of plays, such as musicals, history plays, and others. President Lincoln loved the theater and this is their way of celebrating him. On the 150th anniversary of the assassination, 10th street, the street that Ford's Theater is on, was full of people to remember Lincoln. Going to Ford's is a self-guided tour, but through the education department they like to give you a tour. The museum holds tons of artifacts, such as the gun John Wilkes Booth used to shoot Lincoln (pictured below), the boot that Booth wore when he broke his leg, and the doctors tools from when Lincoln was shot.

We learned so so much about Ford's past, how it became the theater it is today, and what you will see if you visit it!
-Jade