page_title: Tanner Amphitheater
section_title: Renaming
hierarchical_section_title: Tanner Amphitheater / History of the amphitheater / Renaming
caption_attribution_description: English: Unveiling of the plaque renaming the Old Amphitheater as the James R. Tanner Amphitheater, at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington County, Virginia, in the United States on May 30, 2014.
context_page_description: The James Tanner Amphitheater is a historic wood and brick amphitheater located at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington County, Virginia, in the United States. The amphitheater, which was originally unnamed, was constructed in 1873 and served as the cemetery's main public meeting space until the completion of Memorial Amphitheater in 1920. The amphitheater was informally called the Old Amphitheater from 1920 to May 2014, when it was renamed the James R. Tanner Amphitheater in honor of James R. Tanner, a disabled American Civil War veteran and influential veterans' organization leader.
context_section_description: With the construction of Memorial Amphitheater, the older structure came to be known informally as the Old Amphitheater.
  In 2014, Arlington National Cemetery officials dedicated the Old Amphitheater as the James Tanner Amphitheater. James R. Tanner, a Union Army veteran, lost both legs during the American Civil War. He became a stenographer and clerk with the United States Department of War, and took down most of the eyewitness testimony during the early hours of the investigation into the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Tanner is buried a few yards from the amphitheater which now bears his name. The amphitheater's new name was unveiled at a ceremony on May 29, 2014.
caption: Unveiling of the plaque at the renamed Tanner Amphitheater on May 30, 2014.
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