A manual on the origin and development of WashingtonCaemmerer, H. Paul (Hans Paul)
History
A manual on the origin and development of Washington
Caemmerer, H. Paul (Hans Paul)
Washington (D.C.) -- Description and travel; Washington (D.C.) -- History
Erected about 1860 by Gen. Montgomery G. Meigs, this bridge spans Cabin
John Run, about 7 miles northwest of Washington. It is a part of the
aqueduct system, and the arch spanning the stream is 220 feet across
at the base and 105 feet in height. The entire length of the bridge is
584 feet. The thickness of the bridge above the arch is 14¹⁄₂ feet, and
it is 20 feet in width. Until a few years ago it was the largest stone
arch in the world.
FORD’S THEATER
Ford’s Theater Building, in which President Lincoln was assassinated
while attending a performance on the night of April 14, 1865, is on the
east side of Tenth Street between E and F Streets NW.
The building was originally a Baptist Church and used as such for more
than 15 years. It was used as a theater less than three years--from
1862 to 1865--and never as such after the night of the assassination.
Taken over immediately by Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, it was
made over into a 3-story building for use of the War Department and
was so used for many years. Now it is a Government building, housing
in part a portion of the Oldroyd collection from the Lincoln museum.
On April 9, 1893, while repairs were being made, the three floors
collapsed, killing 22 clerks and injuring 68.
The residence of Harry C. Ford, who was manager of the theater for his
father, John T. Ford, stood adjacent to the theater on the right.
LINCOLN MUSEUM AND THE OLDROYD COLLECTION OF LINCOLNIANA
Across the street from Ford’s Theater stands a red brick house (No. 516
Tenth Street NW.) to which President Lincoln, after being shot about
10.30 o’clock on the night of April 14, 1865, was carried and where,
after an interval of 9 hours, he died at 22 minutes after 7 o’clock the
following morning without regaining consciousness.
The room to which the martyred President was brought is a little front
one on the main floor. In size and simplicity it was a room like that
of the log cabin in Kentucky in which the great man was born. As a man
of the people, though they had elevated him to the highest position
the Nation could bestow on any of its citizens, he died amidst simple
surroundings as one of them.
The house was purchased by the United States Government in 1897 for
$30,000; the Oldroyd Lincoln Memorial Collection was purchased for
$50,000 and taken over by the Government September 1, 1926. It is now
under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service, and is visited by
many thousands each year.
[Illustration: _Courtesy of Leet Brothers_
FORD’S THEATER]
[Illustration: THE HOUSE IN WHICH PRESIDENT LINCOLN DIED]
Mr. Oldroyd gathered in the course of 50 years upward of 3,000 articles
pertaining to the martyred President. These can be seen by visitors
to the house. The room in which Abraham Lincoln died has been kept as
nearly as possible as it was when Lincoln passed away and when Stanton
said, “Now he belongs to the ages.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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