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Ford's Theatre, at 511 10th Street NW, which had been used for various stage performances beginning in the 1860's, is most famous for being the site of the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln on April 14, 1865. After being shot, the fatally wounded President was carried across the street to the Petersen House, where he died the next morning. The theatre and house are preserved together as Ford's Theatre National Historic Site.
The site was originally a house of worship, constructed in 1833 as the First Baptist Church of Washington. In 1861, after the congregation relocated to a newly built structure, John T. Ford bought the former church and renovated it into a theatre. He first called it Ford's Athenaeum. It was destroyed by fire in 1862, and was rebuilt, opening the following year as Ford's New Theatre.
Just five days after General Lee's surrender at Appomattox Court House, Lincoln sat in the "State Box" watching Our American Cousin. A well-known actor, John Wilkes Booth, desperate to aid the dying Confederacy, stepped into the box and shot Lincoln in the back of the head. He then jumped onto the stage, and cried out "Sic semper tyrannis" just before escaping through the alley.
Following Lincoln’s death, the public demanded the closure of the Theatre. The United States Government seized the building, with Congress paying Ford $100,000 in compensation, and an order was issued forever prohibiting its use as a place of public amusement. The theatre was eventually taken over by the U.S. military and served as the home of the War Department records on the first floor, the Library of the Surgeon General's Office on the second floor, and the Army Medical Museum, during the period 1866-1887. In 1887 the medical uses were eliminated and it became a War Department clerk's office. The front part of the building collapsed on June 9, 1893, and killed 22 of those clerks, injuring another 68. The building was repaired and used as a government warehouse until 1931.
Along with the Peterson House, it was transferred from the Office of Public Buildings and Public Parks of the National Capital to the National Park Service in 1933 and sat unused until 1954, when Congress approved funds for restoration, which was completed in 1968. Since then, Ford's Theatre has been both an active theatre presenting plays and musicals and a museum containing portions of the Olroyd Collection of Lincolniana. On display are multiple items related to the assassination, including the Derringer pistol used to carry out the shooting, Booth's diary, Lincoln's coat and blood-stained pillow, and the original door to Lincoln's theatre box.
National Register #66000034 (1966)
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The Peterson House, at 516 10th St. NW, is best known as the "House Where Lincoln Died." Just five days after General Lee's surrender at Appomattox Court House, Lincoln sat in the "State Box" at Ford's Theatre, across the street, watching Our American Cousin. A well-known actor, John Wilkes Booth, desperate to aid the dying Confederacy, stepped into the box and shot Lincoln in the back of the head. He then jumped onto the stage, and cried out "Sic semper tyrannis" just before escaping through the alley.
After being shot, the fatally wounded President was carried by attendants, including Dr. Charles Leale, out into the street, where boarder Henry Safford, standing in the open doorway of his rooming house, gestured for them to bring the president inside. Lincoln was taken into the bedroom in the rear of the parlors and placed on a bed that was not long enough for him. Mrs. Lincoln was escorted across the street by Clara Harris, who had been in the box during the shooting, and whose fiancée, Henry Rathbone, had been stabbed by Booth during the assassination. Rathbone, bleeding severely from the knife wound in his arm, collapsed due to loss of blood after arriving at the Petersen House.
During the night and early morning, military guards patrolled outside to prevent onlookers from coming inside the house. A parade of government officials and physicians was allowed to come inside and pay respects to the unconscious President. Physicians continually removed blood clots which formed over the wound and poured out the excess brain fluid and brain matter from where the bullet had entered Lincoln's head in order to relieve pressure on the brain. However, the external and internal hemorrhaging continued throughout the night. Lincoln died in the house on April 15, 1865, at 7:22 a.m., at age 56.
The federal brick townhouse was built by German-born tailor, William Petersen in 1849. he U.S. Government purchased the house in 1896 and placed it under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service thirty years later. Now furnished with period pieces, the dark, narrow town house looks much as it did on that fateful April night. Today the theatre and house are preserved together as Ford's Theatre National Historic Site.
National Register #66000034 (1966)
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The Verizon Center, at 601 F Street, opened as the MCI Center on December 2, 1997, replacing the US Air Arena in Landover as the home to the Washington Capitals of the National Hockey League (NHL) and Washington Wizards of the National Basketball Association (NBA). It also serves as the home for the Washington Mystics of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) and Georgetown University Hoyas men's basketball of the NCAA. Originally built and owned by Abe Pollin, the arena was designed by Ellerbe Becket Architects & Engineers, and constructed at a cost of $260 million. In 2006, Verizon bought out MCI, and the arena's name was changed. Following Pollin's death in 2009, the arena was sold along with the Wizards and the Washington-Baltimore area Ticketmaster franchise to Monumental Sports & Entertainment, chaired by Capitals owner Ted Leonis.
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In 2007, Union Station was ranked #37 on the AIA 150 America's Favorite Architecture list.
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