Ford’s Theatre: What a sham!

Continuing with the assassination theme, I always wanted to go to Ford’s Theatre. I’ve been to Washington, DC a few times and have visited most of the sites, but I’ve never been to Ford’s Theatre. Now, I don’t think I want to go, and here’s why.

The Ford’s Theatre building contains nothing of the original theater building, save for maybe the exterior bricks. In 1865, when Lincoln was assassinated, the building had recently been rebuilt in 1863 following a fire. After Lincoln’s assassination the building was altered in several ways:

Alteration #1: After Lincoln’s assassination, the government bought the building and converted it into an office building, thus removing all the theater-interior. It served this purpose until…

Alteration #2: In 1893, the theater building interior collapsed, killing 44 government workers. Only a majority of the brick façade stood. It was gutted during the clean-up and investigation.

Alteration #3: The interior was rebuilt around the turn of the last century, but again as a storage/office building, not as a theater.

Alteration #4: In the 1950s, the government decided to return the interior to a theater, completing the construction in 1968.

Alteration #5: The interior was again becoming dated, so it was again nearly completely renovated in 2008.

So the interior you are going to see is basically a brand-new representation of what the theater looked like in 1865. But don’t expect to see the actual location of the assassination.

Morbidly, the museum has on display the blood-stained black Brooks Brothers overcoat Lincoln was wearing that evening…probably the only interesting actual artifact tying the location to the assassination. They claim they also have on display Booth’s gun he used to shoot Lincoln. The chair in which Lincoln was sitting is floating around out there somewhere.

Lincoln…yawn.

Maybe I’ll pass by Ford’s Theater if I’m in DC next, but I can’t promise I’ll be dropping the entrance fee to see a Disney-like recreation.

For more on this, check out this Washington Post article:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/14/AR2008081403328_pf.html