Located directly across the street from Ford's Theatre, the Petersen House was built in 1849. On April 14, 1875, doctors and soldiers rushed to find a comfortable place to tend to the dying President Lincoln after he had been shot and found the house of tailor William Petersen quickly. After surviving through the night, Lincoln died in the Petersen House on the morning of April 15.
Petersen himself died in 1871, and in 1893 the house was occupied by the District of Columbia Memorial Association, formed to honor the martyred president. Congress purchased the property shortly thereafter, in 1896, and for years it housed the Oldroyd collection of Lincolniana. In 1933, along with Ford's Theatre, the Petersen House was transferred to National Park Service. It was restored in 1959 to its appearance at the time of Lincoln's death.
DC Inventory: November 8, 1964 (Joint Committee on Landmarks)
National Register: October 15, 1966
Within Ford's Theatre National Historic Site
This site is listed on the Haunted History of DC Tour. While not explicitly “haunted”, many visitors to the Peterson House feel a heavy sadness when entering the room where President Abraham Lincoln died on the morning of April 15, 1865. Lincoln was brought here following the shooting, just across the street, at Ford’s Theatre. Outside on the street in front of Peterson House, people have reported hearing the screams and cries of witnesses to the assassination.
]]>Ford's Theatre is best known as the site of the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln on April 14, 1865 by John Wilkes Booth, a Confederate sympathizer and actor. Originally named Ford's New Theatre, Ford's was built by Baltimore theater entrepreneur John T. Ford on the site of the First Baptist Church. Built in 1833, the church had been abandoned in 1859, and Ford had converted the building into Ford's Atheneum in 1862, but the Atheneum had burned later that year.
Construction on the structure that still stands today began in 1863 with James J. Gifford serving as the builder and architect. It was modeled after the design of Baltimore's Holliday Street Theatre. Following Lincoln's assassination in 1865, Ford briefly retained the notion of continuing to use the building as a theatre, but outcry from the American public forced him to abandon the idea. The still-unfinished building was seized in July of 1865 by order of the Secretary of War, and its interior was torn out in August of 1865.
The building was subsequently converted into a three-story office building housing the Army Medical Museum and Surgeon General. Rather than being recognized for its historical significance, the building was used for a variety of government purposes over the course of several decades. In 1893, a section of the interior collapsed, killing 22 people, and alterations to the building, including the facade, followed in 1894.
After many years of serving as storage space, Ford's Theatre was transferred to the ownership of the National Park Service in 1931, and in 1967, the building was restored to its 1865 appearance. Currently, the building continues to stage plays and operate as a theatre, in addition to hosting the Lincoln Museum and Library.
The National Historic Site also encompasses the Petersen House, located across the street, where Lincoln died the morning after he had been shot at Ford's Theatre. Purchased by the U.S. government in 1895, the Petersen House was also transferred to the National Park Service in 1931 and has since been restored to reflect its appearance at the time of Lincoln's death. It is open to the public as a historic house museum.
The National Historic Site is within the Pennsylvania Avenue National Historic Site.
DC Inventory: November 8, 1964 (Joint Committee on Landmarks)
DC Designation: June 19, 1973
National Register and National Historic Site: October 15, 1966 (documented January 21, 1982)
Lincoln Museum and Library (DC Inventory: November 8, 1964)
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