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Ford's Theatre
Ford's Theatre
Ford's Theatre
Petersen House
After Lincoln was shot, doctors had soldiers carry him into the street in search of a
house in which he would be more comfortable. A man on the steps of the house of
tailor William Petersen beckoned to them. They took Lincoln into the first-floor
bedroom and laid him on the bed – diagonally because of his unusual height. Many
people came to visit him throughout the night before he died the following morning
at 7:22 a.m.
The Petersen House was purchased by the U.S. government in 1896 as the "House
Where Lincoln Died", being the federal government's first purchase of a historic
home. The National Park Service has operated it as a historic house museum since
1933, the rooms furnished as on the night Lincoln died.