Ford's Theatre United States

Legendary

The famous theatre where President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in 1865.

Photo by Tim Evanson

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John Wilkes Booth had performed on this stage. He knew the play by heart, including exactly which line got the biggest laugh from the audience.

He waited for that laugh. Then he fired, so the crowd wouldn't hear the shot.

The building didn't start as a theater at all. It was built in 1833 as a church, and it sat empty after the congregation moved out in 1859.

A theater manager from Baltimore named John T. Ford took over the building and turned it into a performance space. A fire destroyed it in 1862.

Ford rebuilt bigger and better. Ford's New Theatre opened in August 1863 and quickly became one of the finest theaters in the country.

On April 14, 1865, Abraham Lincoln came to see a comedy called Our American Cousin. The Civil War had ended just five days earlier, and Washington was celebrating.

Lincoln sat in the state box above the stage with his wife and two guests. Booth, a well-known actor and a supporter of the Confederacy, slipped inside.

After the shooting, Booth jumped down to the stage and escaped into the night. Soldiers tracked him down 12 days later.

Lincoln was carried across the street to a boarding house owned by William Petersen. He died there the next morning at 7:22 a.m.

He was the first president of the United States to be assassinated. The country was stunned.

Ford's Theatre closed immediately. No play was performed here again for more than 100 years, and the building was used as a warehouse and government offices instead.

It reopened as a working theater in 1968 after a careful restoration. Today it hosts real performances and serves as a museum.

Sit in the theater and look up at the state box, still decorated the way it was that night. Cross the street to the Petersen House and see the small bedroom where Lincoln died. Visit the museum below the theater to see Booth's pistol and the clothes Lincoln wore.