History · Athens

62 landmarks tell Athens’s story

The public archives hold no old photos of Athens yet. The rest are in attics, shoeboxes and the historical society. Help start the collection.

0old photos & papers

62historic places

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What stands out about Athens’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A National Historic Landmark62 places on the National Register, including Henry W. Grady House, a National Historic Landmark. #4 in GA.A historic districtBoulevard Historic District protects 352 historic buildings.Lost villages1 post office opened and closed inside today’s Athens, and 121 old place names are still on the map.A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Athens are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.

★ What stands out · On the National Register

62 listings protect 1,467 historic buildings

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. One is a National Historic Landmark, the highest tier.

places listed

National Historic Landmark

Henry W. Grady House

historic buildings protected

1,467

each building in a district counts

first listed

1970

Wilkins House

in Georgia

by listings

BuildingsDistrictsSites★ landmark

Architectural styles listings

Greek Revival23

Victorian7

Queen Anne6

Colonial Revival6

Federal5

Neoclassical5

★ Landmark

Henry W. Grady HouseGreek Revival

Wilkins HouseClassic Revival

Bishop HouseGreek Revival

Gov. Wilson Lumpkin HouseGreek Revival

Lucy Cobb Institute CampusGreek Revival · Built 1859

President's HouseGreek Revival · Built 1856

Upson HouseGreek Revival

James A. Sledge HouseGothic · Built 1860

All 62 listings

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Athens’s post office has been open since 1802. Another post office, White Hall, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Athens

1802–today

White Hall

1889–1958

18001910today

Hamlets and corners on the map

AdamsAnsley ParkAshton PlaceBarch EstatesBarnett BluffsBarretts MillBedgoodBeechwood HillsBel Air HeightsBerkley HillsBroad AcresBroadacres HomesBrookstoneCamelotCarriage HillsCedar BluffCedar CreekCedar Shoals EstatesChadds WalkChamberlinCherokee ForestClarkedaleCleveland StationCobbham

Gone or out of use

Athens Female High SchoolschoolAthens High and Industrial SchoolschoolBelmont SchoolschoolBuena Vista Baptist ChurchchurchChestnut Grove SchoolschoolCleveland SchoolschoolCrestwood Golf CourselocaleEpps BridgebridgeFowler MilllocaleGrove SchoolschoolJames Fulton Boys SchoolschoolKnox InstituteschoolLumpkin Law SchoolschoolMortons Chapel SchoolschoolMultip Manor AirportairportNavy Pre-Flight School AthensmilitaryPaper Mill BridgebridgeSykes Milllocale

17cemeteries and burying grounds inside Athens

Athens Memory GardensBates - SmithBuena VistaCoileDavisEast LawnEvergreen Memorial ParkGospel PilgrimJackson StreetLesterMatthewsMortonOconee HillPuryearTuckWilliamsYoung

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

The story so far

Athens, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Athens yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 116,714 to 128,671 (+10%).

Timeline

Athens, 1802 to 1976

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

19th century
1802Post officeThe Athens post office opens
1856BuiltPresident's House is built
1859BuiltLucy Cobb Institute Campus is built
1860BuiltJames A. Sledge House is built
1889Post officeThe White Hall post office opens
20th century
1910BuiltCarnegie Library Building is built
1958Post officeThe White Hall post office closes
1976LandmarkHenry W. Grady House named a National Historic Landmark

By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.

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Help out

Start Athens’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Athens’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos

00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s

0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.

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Stories next door

History across the town line

Winterville1 historic place

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →

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From the National Register of Historic Places (62), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.