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Ford's Theater
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On Saturday, March 4th, senior
missionaries went to the Ford's
Theater and Peterson House
where President Lincoln was shot
and died. It was a great trip.
This is the box where the president, his wife, and another couple were seated, watching a play. There are three levels, the stage is small. Can you see the framed picture between the flags? The Office of the President didn't have a presidential seal yet, so a picture of President Washington was put up whenever the Lincolns came to the theater. In the bottom picture you can see a little of a yellow door, where Booth slipped into a little hallway and then into another door into the box. He shot President Lincoln in the back of his head and jumped onto the stage. He was considered a very athletic actor, but broke his ankle jumping down. He managed to slip out a door across the stage, to a waiting horse and got away. There is so much more to the story; events, plenty of bad guys helping Booth, and a lot of bad luck all around. It took the assassination of two more presidents before someone decided that maybe the president should have his own secret service.
The theater is still used to show a few plays a year. You can see some of the set up on the stage. They use the whole third floor for
lighting. In President Lincoln's time, they would allow 2,000 people into the theater. Now it seats 250 people.
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| Room where President Lincoln died |
They took the president across the street to the Peterson House, a boarding house. It is a fourteen room house, they only have three rooms open to view. We stood in the actual room where President Lincoln died. It was sobering. He was a great man and president.
