Ebook: Ford's Theatre

Ford's Theatre usually conjures up two names in popular imagination: a good one, Abraham Lincoln, and a bad one, John Wilkes Booth. Brian Anderson's new Images of America book on Ford's Theatre makes it clear how many more good names were associated with the preservation and restoration of Ford's Theatre, and gives us a great visual gallery of the look of Ford's from its first days as a church in 1833 to its modern place as a living theater and national monument.'--Allen Guelzo, Henry R. Luce Professor of the Civil War Era and Director of the Civil War Era Studies Program, Gettysburg College. 'Meticulously researched and lucidly written, Images of America: Ford's Theatre contains astonishing and little-seen pictures from the theatre's rich 180-year history. A veritable treasure trove for history buffs, this book is more than the definitive history of Ford's Theatre. It is a triumph!'--Jay Winik, author of the New York Times best-selling book April 1865. Ford's Theatre in downtown Washington, DC, is best known as the scene of Pres. Abraham Lincoln's assassination on April 14, 1865. It is among the oldest and most visited sites of national tragedy in the United States. First constructed in 1833 as a Baptist church, the property was acquired by John T. Ford and converted into a theater in 1861. Presenting almost 500 performances before the assassination, Ford afterward sold the building to the federal government. A century later, the National Park Service reconstructed the theater, and Ford's Theatre Society began presenting live performances there in 1968. Since then, the two organizations have partnered to offer more than 650,000 annual visitors an array of quality programming about Lincoln's presidency and legacy. Today, patrons can explore the Tenth Street "campus," consisting of the theater, interactive museum galleries, the house where Lincoln died, and the Center for Education and Leadership.