The  Assassination  of 
Abraham  Lincoln 


Photographs  and  Illustrations 
of  Ford's  Theatre 


Excerpts  from  newspapers  and  other 

sources 


From  the  files  of  the 
Lincoln  Financial  Foundation  Collection 


•71.2.001  osr  0333b 


TOED'g  T5EATES  and 


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APPEAEANCE  OJ'  POED's  THEATRE,    WASHINGTON,    D.    C,    APTEE  THE   MUEDEE. — i'KuM   A  SKETCH  E5T   A.    EETICH .'.  US. 


INTER 


>F  FOED'S    THEATER.   WASHINGTON.    SHOWING    PBESIDEnI  llNCOLN'S    PRIVATE    BOX    AS    IT    WAS    AT    TH^»& 

^*^.  TIME    OF    HIS    ASSASSIN ATION.-From  a  Photograph. 


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4/29/24 


I  REPRESENTATIVE  HENRY  R.  RATH- 
1+  BONE,  of  Illinois,  speaking  at  the  un- 
veiling of  tablet 8  marking  the  site  of  the 
assassination  and  death  of  Abraham  Lincoln, 
fifty-nine  years   ago   yesterday. 


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Left — Rescue  ^Kers"  removing  the  dead,  and  injured  from  old  Ford's  ^ater  following  the  collapse  June  9,  1893.     Upper  right — Police; 
holding  back  the  crowds  from  the  front  of  the  building,  while  the  rescue  v^rli  went  om    j^^^  center — Clerks  climbing  out  of  the  building 

from  the  rear.     Lower  right — Removir^  the  ^^3  to  the  reftr  alley% 

/  n  _,      ...    ■  .  ^^gFfom  Iffanlc  Leslie's  Illustrated  N'ewnpupf 


I     ,  Tragic  Spot  Hidden       1 


Files  hide  the  spot  where  Abraham 
Lincoln  was  fatally  shot  at  Ford's 
theater  on,  , April  14,  1865.  The  old 
playhouse  is  now  used  as  a  govern- 
ment storeroom.  The  boxes  and  stage 
have    long    since    disappeared. 


3.  The  Ford  The- 
ater, in  Wash- 
ington, D.  C, 
the  scene  of  Lin- 
coln's assassina- 
tion, is  now  used 
as  a  Lincoln  mu- 
seum and  con- 
tains many  in- 
teresting objects 


Historic  Theater  to  Be  Mils 


seum 


Ford  theater  in  Washington,  in  which  Abraham  Lincoln  was  stabbed 
and  shot  by  Booth,  to  be  rehabilitated  and  used  as  «  national  museum,  j 


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Scene  0/  Lincoln  AsfassmcMon 
Will  Be  Opened  as  Museum 


Ford's  Theater,  scene  of  Abra- 
ham Lincoln's  assassination,  will 
be  opened  on  his  birthday,  Feb. 
12,  as  a  museum  containing,  relics 
pertaining  to  the  martyred  presi- 
dent. One  of  these  Is  a  painting 


(lower  right)  depicting  the  scene 
In  front  of  the  theater  as  Lincoln 
was  carried  away.  It  was 
sketched  by  an  eye-witness,  Carl 
Bersch.  Capt.  O.  O.  Dillon,  on 
duty  at  the  museum,  is  shown 
beside  the  picture. 


Ford'i  Theatw — the  seen*  of  ffi#~!ftesident's  assassination — today  ts  M  Lincoln  museum. 


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THEN  —  Ford's  Theater  on  10th  Street  nw.  at  the  time  of  Lincoln's  assassination. 


WASHINGTON  STAR-NEWS 


Feb.    13,    1974 


Washington,   D.C. 


— Star-News  Photographer  Brig  Cabe 


A  Fords  in  His  Past 

Fords  Theater  may  be  a  strange  place  to  hold  a 
birthday  party  for  Abraham  Lincoln.  But  there  it 
was  yesterday,  with  Park  Service  volunteers 
dressing  up  appropriately,  and  Mrs.  Sheila 
Lawson  (center)  baking  a  cake  from  a  recipe 
used  by  Mary  Todd  Lincoln. 


(^j^u^JJUm    1>\    ^  W»^»-Uaaj«-o^    •  ,u*-    ocl 


East  side  of  Tenth  Street  N.  W.,  between  E  and  F  as  it  was  in  1865.  Note  the  unpaved  street;  the  carriage 
blocks  and  hitching  posts;  the  unpretentious  houses  and  the  general  dilapidation  of  the  whole  block.  The  large 
building  in  the  center  was  Ford's  Theatre  where  Abraham  Lincoln  was  shot  by  the  assassin  J.  Wilkes  Booth . 
on  the  night  of  April  14th.  The  injured  President  was  carried  out  of  the  theatre,  and  across  the  street  to  the 
home  of  Wm.  Petersen,  where  he  passed  away  at  7.22  the  next  morning,  after  lingering  more  than  9  hours — 
unconscious  every  instant. 

The  theatre  building  was  originally  a  Baptist  Church,  and  used  as  such  for  more  .than  15  years.  It  was  used 
as  a  theatre  for  less  than  3  years,  from  1862  to  1865 — never  used  as  a  theatre  after  the  night  of  the  assassination. 
Taken  over  immediately  by  Secretary  of  War  Edwin  M.  Stanton,  made  over  into  a  3-story  building  for  use  of 
the  War  Department,  so  used  for  many  years  and  afterwards,  until  now,  as  a  Government  storehouse.  On  April 
9th,  1893  (the  28th  anniversary  of  Appomatox)  while  repairs  were  being  made,  the  3  floors  collapsed,  killing 
22  clerks  and  injuring  68.  The  small  building  to  the  left  of  the  theatre  was  then  a  saloon,  wherein  Booth  took 
brandy  to  nerve  him  for  his  deed.  The  3-story  building  adjoining  the  theatre  on  the  right  was  the  private 
dwelling  of  Harry  C.  Ford,  manager  of  the  theatre  for  his  father,  John  T.  Ford.  All  structures  on  the  entjre 
block,  except  only  the  theatre  building,  have  long  since  been  removed. 


Eas  of  Tenth  Street  N.  W.,  between  E  and  F  as  it  was  in  1865.    Note  the  unpaved  street;  tl^^»rnage 

blocks  and  hitching  posts;  the  unpretentious  houses  and  the  general  dilapidation  of  the  whole  block. ^^^e  large 
building  in  the  center  was  Ford's  Theatre  where  Abraham  Lincoln  was  shot  by  the  assassin  J.  Wilkes  Booth 
on  the  night  of  April  14th.  The  injured  President  was  carried  out  of  the  theatre,  and  across  the  street  to  the 
home  of  Wm.  Petersen,  where  he  passed  away  at  7.22  the  next  morning,  after  lingering  more  than  9  hours — 
unconscious  every  instant. 

The  theatre  building  was  originally  a  Baptist  Church,  and  used  as  such  for  more  than  15  years.  It  was  used 
as  a  theatre  for  less  than  3  years,  from  1862  to  1865 — never  used  as  a  theatre  after  the  night  of  the  assassination. 
Taken  over  immediately  by  Secretary  of  War  Edwin  M.  Stanton,  made  over  into  a  3-story  building  for  use  of 
the  War  Department,  so  used  for  many  years  and  afterwards,  until  now,  as  a  Government  storehouse.  On  April 
9th,  1893  (the  28th  anniversary  of  Appomatox)  while  repairs  were  being  made,  the  3  floors  collapsed,  killing 
22  clerks  and  injuring  68.  The  small  building  to  the  left  of  the  theatre  was  then  a  saloon,  wherein  Booth  took 
brandy  to  nerve  him  for  his  deed.  The  3 -story  building  adjoining  the  theatre  on  the  right  was  the  private 
dwelling  of  Harry  C.  Ford,  manager  of  the  theatre  for  his  father,  John  T.  Ford.  All  structures  on  the  entire 
block,  except  only  the  theatre  building,  have  long  since  been  removed. 


FORD'S  THEATER,  WASHINGTON 
At  The  Time  At  rah  an.  Lincoln  Was  Shot. 


><C  ^'rt"- 


*      'a 


Washington,  D.   C.        Ford's  Theatre 


Photograph  taken  at  Ford's  Theater  in  Washington,  after  the  assassination  on  the  night  of  April  14,  18t>5 — Original  negatives  by 
Alexander  Gardner — Now  deposited  in  the  Original  Brady  Collection  of  seven  thousand  negatives  at  Springfield,  Massachusetts 


J 


THEN  —  Ford's  Theater  on  10th  Street  nw.  at  the  time  of  Lincoln's  assassination. 


Where  was  staged  a  supreme  tragedy.  Ford's 
theater,  now  used  by  the  war  department  as  a  stor- 
age house  for  blank  forms,  to  be  converted  into  a 
Lincoln  museum  by  the  terms  of  a  bill  sponsored 
in  congress  by  Mr.  Rathbene.  r 

i  From   un   ordinal   uwucU  by   Hio  CUicutfo   Hmturkul    Sodctj ) 


Ford's  Theatre,  in  which  President 
Lincoln  was  shot.  Situated  directly 
across > the  street  from  the  Lincoln 
Museum. 


>H&E 


JN.  the  Lincoln  Museum  may 
be  seen  the  famous  Oldroyd 
collection  of  Lincoln  relics,  now 
owned  by  the  Museum.  Among 
these  are  the  family  Bible,  a  rail 
split  by  Lincoln  in  1830,  the 
office  chair  he  occupied  at  his 
desk  in  Springfield,  111.,  the  last 
bit  of  writing  that  Lincoln  ever 
did;  also  the  spur  which  Booth 
wore  and  which  he  accidentally 
caught  in  the  flag  when  leaping 
from  the  box  in  the  theatre  after 
the  assassination  of  the  President. 


The  Lincoln  Museum — In  the  little 
house  at  516  Tenth  Street,  to  which 
Lincoln  was  carried  the  victim  of  an 
assassin's    bullet    and    where    he    died. 


