An Unlikely Memorial to Our 16th President

Abraham Lincoln died in this room of the Petersen House, after he was shot at Ford's Theatre. Public Domain

Ford’s Theatre in Washington was the scene of 16th president Abraham Lincoln’s assassination. It was a relatively quiet residential area in the 19th century. The place where he died—directly across the street—has become a memorial site.

While an average of 650,000 people annually plan to visit the preserved circa-1863 theater on 10th Street, they often have no knowledge of the importance of the Petersen House that stands directly opposite. Yet, it still factors in to major historical events. Lincoln was immediately taken to this Federal, row-house-style dwelling on the evening of April 14, 1865. He died there the following day.

The Petersen House was where Abraham Lincoln was taken after he was shot by John Wilkes Booth. He died there the following morning, on April 15, 1865. McGhiever/CC BY-SA 3.0

Now a Historic Destination

Today, people touring the National Park Service (NPS) Historic Site of Ford’s Theatre can also peruse the Petersen House, which has three main-floor rooms open to the public. The front parlor and two bedrooms are maintained with 19th-century period furnishings. The 176-year-old house’s moldings, floors, staircase, railing, and doors are original; thus, it offers a true historical experience to those meandering through the small rooms.

First, visitors stand where Mary Todd Lincoln waited while doctors attended to her husband. Then they walk into the small bedroom that U.S. Secretary of War Edwin Stanton quickly turned into a temporary office. Lastly,  they enter the back bedroom, where Lincoln died at 7:22 a.m. on April 15, 1865.

The brick, four-story, circa-1849 house was a home and provided extra rent-by-the-room income for German immigrant and tailor William Petersen, his wife Anna, and their 10 children. However, on the night of April 14, just after 10:15 p.m., the family’s lives were upended when a boarder, Henry Safford, heard a tumult rising from Ford’s Theatre. He opened the door and saw Lincoln being carried on a makeshift stretcher.

Reportedly, he yelled, “Bring him in here!” and directed the men carrying Lincoln to a back bedroom rented by Willie Clark, who was out for the evening celebrating the end of the Civil War. Anna Petersen was away, visiting New York City with a sister, while William Petersen was at his tailor shop on 8th Street. Five of their grown children no longer lived in the house in 1865, but three children were in the boardinghouse on the night of the assassination. Fred Petersen, age 15, oversaw the hubbub inside the family home.

A number of people crowded into those three rooms of the Petersen boardinghouse on that fateful night. Besides Stanton, Mary Lincoln, and four physicians, there was also Assistant Surgeon General Charles Crane, Lincoln’s son Robert Todd Lincoln, and Lincoln’s pastor, Rev. Dr. Phineas Gurley. Upwards of 90 people flowed in and out during the night to pay their last respects to the dying president.

This photograph of the bed where U.S. President Abraham Lincoln died was taken just minutes after his body was removed from the Petersen's home. Public Domain

A Famous Building

Immediately following Lincoln’s death, the Petersens faced untold numbers of people gathering outside their home. Some walked inside uninvited, even taking strips of cloth, carpet, and other items as souvenirs. Afterward, Few boarders wanted to stay in the house where Lincoln died. In 1871, William and Anna Petersen died within a few months of one another. The Petersen children eventually sold the house in 1878, and by 1896 it was in the hands of the federal government.

Although the bed on which Lincoln died as well as other artifacts from the room are permanently displayed in the Chicago History Museum, the items currently in the room and the decor for the public to view are in keeping with how the room appeared in 1865.

After taking the self-guided tour through the Petersen House’s three important rooms, visitors continue through to the back porch. It opens up to a hall that leads to the building next door, The Center for Education and Leadership (CEL).

The CEL is associated with the Petersen House, and it  provides educational information to visitors. On the third and fourth floors are comprehensive museums spotlighting details of Lincoln’s life, including a focus on before, during, and after events surrounding his assassination. Special attention is given to information about the conspirators involved in the assassination plot as well as the hunt for the killer, John Wilkes Booth.

The CEL’s atrium spiral staircase wraps around a 34-foot tower of 6,800 aluminum reproductions of actual books published about Lincoln. These include “Team of Rivals” and “Mr. Lincoln’s Forts: A Guide to the Civil War Defenses of Washington.”

The three-story tower of painted aluminum book replicas is one of the main features of the Petersen House's Center for Education and Leadership. Dsdugan/CC BY-SA 4.0

The books represented in the tower are considered less than half of the estimated 15,000 to 18,000 books published on Lincoln. Only around 200 of the books displayed in the tower are still in print. Some of these books are purchasable in the CEL’s lobby gift shop.

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