Assassination Trivia

[RJNorton]

Where was this located?

[Eva Elisabeth]

I have no idea just wonder if I understood correctly we are to look for a place that doesn't exist anymore (as in the photo)?

[RJNorton]

Eva, yes. What you see in the picture was there in the 1860s. The question is, "Where was it located?"

[Eva Elisabeth]

Doesn't look rural to me, rather a terrace house in a city. Also looks DC or northern. So I try DC. Was it in Washington DC? (No idea though whose it was).

[L Verge]

Without tracking down the photo I'm thinking of, it might be a later dwelling in Baptist Alley behind Ford's Theatre?

[RJNorton]

Eva and Laurie, you both are on the right track. Yes, it is in Washington, D.C., but it's not a later dwelling in Baptist Alley behind Ford's Theatre.

[Eva Elisabeth]

The Herolds' house?

[RJNorton]

Excellent guess, Eva, but it's not the Herolds' house. I do not know who lived in the building, but I put it in assassination trivia for a reason.

[RJNorton]

Hint #1: Geographically speaking, Laurie's guess is the closest to where this building was located.

[Eva Elisabeth]

10th Street?

[RJNorton]

You win, Eva! Kudos! Going north from Ford's Theatre this is the northernmost building I've seen in any photo. Other photos I have seen taken from the north don't include this structure. The photo I used was cropped from a photo in When Lincoln Died: The Assassination, The Funeral Journey, The Pursuit and Trial of the Conspirators, The Complete Story in Pictures and in the Words of His Day by Ralph Borreson.

[L Verge]

You win, Eva! Kudos! Going north from Ford's Theatre this is the northernmost building I've seen in any photo. Other photos I have seen taken from the north don't include this structure. The photo I used was cropped from a photo in When Lincoln Died: The Assassination, The Funeral Journey, The Pursuit and Trial of the Conspirators, The Complete Story in Pictures and in the Words of His Day by Ralph Borreson.

I knew I had seen that photo before and that somehow it was related to Ford's Theatre. Ralph Borreson actually donated the negatives from his book's photos to our Surratt House Museum. BTW: I do recommend his book - sort of a mini-Twenty Days...

Kathy Canavan has researched Tenth Street in 1865. Perhaps she knows something about this particular structure.

[STS Lincolnite]

You win, Eva! Kudos! Going north from Ford's Theatre this is the northernmost building I've seen in any photo. Other photos I have seen taken from the north don't include this structure. The photo I used was cropped from a photo in When Lincoln Died: The Assassination, The Funeral Journey, The Pursuit and Trial of the Conspirators, The Complete Story in Pictures and in the Words of His Day by Ralph Borreson.

I knew I had seen that photo before and that somehow it was related to Ford's Theatre. Ralph Borreson actually donated the negatives from his book's photos to our Surratt House Museum. BTW: I do recommend his book - sort of a mini-Twenty Days...

Kathy Canavan has researched Tenth Street in 1865. Perhaps she knows something about this particular structure.

This photo has always been a favorite of mine. The sandwich board in the foreground advertises a benefit for Jeannie Gourlay (a presentation of Dion Boucicault’s The Octoroon). This benefit was to have taken place on April 15, 1865 but never happened for obvious reasons. Using the sandwich board in the foreground to date the photo (it wouldn't have been up long before April 15th and it certainly wouldn't have been up long after), it is probably the photo which most closely depicts what that side of 10 street and Ford's Theatre looked like at the time of the assassination.

Does anyone know who took the photo or the exact date it was taken?

Thanks!

[Eva Elisabeth]

Looks like it was taken during one of the very next days since the "Octoroon" is still "announced" while the houses and people are wearing mourning attire.

[RJNorton]

it is probably the photo which most closely depicts what that side of 10 street and Ford's Theatre looked like at the time of the assassination.

Looks like it was taken during one of the very next days since the "Octoroon" is still "announced" while the houses and people are wearing mourning attire.

I agree, Scott and Eva. It looks like James Ferguson's Greenback Saloon/Restaurant is draped in mourning, also.