Full Answer
What is the history of Athens Georgia?
Athens, Georgia was founded on December 1806. In 1860, slaves made up over half of the population in Athens, with 1,892 living in the area. During the Civil War from 1861 to 1865 there was no major battles within the Athens area.
What was the first settlement in Georgia?
In 1733, General James Oglethorpe, acting on behalf of the Trustees for the Establishment of the Colony of Georgia in England, landed a group of colonists and settled the town of Savannah in the new colony of Georgia.
How did the Civil Rights Movement Affect Athens GA?
In 1961, Athens witnessed part of the civil rights movement when Charlayne Hunter and Hamilton Holmes became the first two black students to enter the University of Georgia. Despite the Brown vs. Board of Education Supreme Court ruling in 1954, the Athens–Clarke County school district remained segregated until 1964.
What happened in Athens during the Civil War?
During the Civil War from 1861 to 1865 there was no major battles within the Athens area. After the Confederate soldiers were defeated, freed slaves came in masses to commemorate the Emancipation Proclamation, and African American education institutions prospered throughout Athens.
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What is the history of Athens Georgia?
Clarke County was established in 1801 and named after Elijah Clarke, a Revolutionary War hero, and Athens was established as a town in 1805. Athens was named by John Milledge, later governor of Georgia, after Athens, Greece, the center of learning in the classical world and home to the academies of Plato and Aristotle.
When was Athens Georgia established?
December 8, 1806The City of Athens was incorporated on December 8, 1806. The University of Georgia had opened for classes in 1801, and the city was named in honor of the center of higher learning that had flourished in classical Greece.
What is Athens Georgia known for?
Nicknamed the Classic City, the college town of Athens is best known as the home to the University of Georgia, whose football team, the Georgia Bulldogs, won the 2021 College Football National Championship.
Who founded Athens GA?
John MilledgeOn July 25, 1801, John Milledge, one of the trustees and later governor of Georgia, bought 633 acres (256 hectares) from Daniel Easley and donated it to the university. Milledge named the surrounding area Athens after the city that was home to the Platonic Academy of Plato and Aristotle in Greece.
Why is Athens called the Classic City?
The town was named by the late governor John Milledge for Athens, Greece, known as the center of classical learning, thus giving Athens, Georgia, its nickname: the Classic City.
What is the oldest building in Athens Georgia?
The Church-Waddel-Brumby House also has the distinction of being the oldest surviving residence in Athens.
How was Athens founded?
The first settlers in Athens were from various ethnic groups that were organized in several kingdoms. They established themselves near the crag, which later would become the Acropolis. According to the Greek mythology, Cecrops, who was half man and half serpent, founded Athens and became the first king.
How do you say Athens in English?
Break 'Athens' down into sounds: [ATH] + [UHNZ] - say it out loud and exaggerate the sounds until you can consistently produce them.
What is the meaning of Athens?
/ ˈæθ ɪnz / PHONETIC RESPELLING. noun. a city in and the capital of Greece, in the southeastern part. Greek A·the·nai [ah-thee-ne] . Greater Athens, a metropolitan area comprising the city of Athens, Piraeus, and several residential suburbs.
What Indian tribes lived in Athens GA?
The primary tribes in Athens were the Creek and Cherokee. Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, a series of treaties and the Indian Removal Act of 1830 removed all of their land ownership by the 19th century.
How many Athens are there in the US?
There are 18 U.S. cities named “Athens.”
Is Athens GA growing?
The U.S. Census reports eight of the 15 U.S. cities with the largest population gains between 2010 and 2019 were in the south. Athens is among the cities in the nation experiencing a population increase.
What Indian tribes lived in Athens GA?
The primary tribes in Athens were the Creek and Cherokee. Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, a series of treaties and the Indian Removal Act of 1830 removed all of their land ownership by the 19th century.
Was Athens ever the capital of Georgia?
Georgia has had five different capitals in its history. The first was Savannah, the seat of government during British colonial rule, followed by Augusta, Louisville, Milledgeville, and Atlanta, the capital city from 1868 to the present day.
How big is the City of Athens GA?
118.2 mi²Athens / Area
When was Dalton Ga founded?
Dalton, city, seat (1851) of Whitfield county, northwestern Georgia, U.S., encircled by the Cohutta Mountains. Although founded in 1837 as Cross Plains, it was renamed, probably, for the mother of Edward White (head of the syndicate that bought the townsite), whose maiden name was Dalton.
Who bought the land in Athens?
On July 25, John Milledge, one of the trustees and later governor of Georgia, bought 633 acres (256 hectares) from Daniel Easley and donated it to the university. Milledge named the surrounding area Athens after the city that was home to the Platonic Academy of Plato and Aristotle in Greece.
When did Athens become a city?
Athens officially became a town in December 1806 with a government made up of a three-member commission. The university and town continued to grow with cotton mills fueling the industrial and commercial development. Athens became known as the " Manchester of the South" after the city in England known for its mills.
What was the first state university in Georgia?
On January 27, 1785, the Georgia General Assembly granted a charter by Abraham Baldwin for the University of Georgia as the first state-supported university.
What was the most important city in the 1830s?
In the 1830s and 1840s, transportation developments and the growing influence of the University of Georgia made Athens one of the state's most important cities as the Antebellum Period neared the height of its development.
What state is Athens in?
Athens, Georgia. This article is about the city in the U.S. state of Georgia. For other uses, see Athens (disambiguation). / 33.950°N 83.383°W / 33.950; -83.383. / 33.950°N 83.383°W / 33.950; -83.383. Athens, officially Athens–Clarke County, is a consolidated city–county and college town in the U.S. state of Georgia.
What is the cool town of Athens?
The city is also known as a recording site for such groups as the Atlanta-based Indigo Girls. The 2020 book Cool Town: How Athens, Georgia , Launched Alternative Music and Changed American Culture describes Athens as the model of the indie culture of the 1980s.
How many hospitals are there in Athens?
Athens is served by two major hospitals, the 359-bed Piedmont Athens Regional and the 170-bed St. Mary's Hospital. The city is also served by the smaller 42-bed Landmark Hospital of Athens. Piedmont Athens Regional was formerly Athens Regional Medical Center before being acquired by Piedmont Healthcare in 2016. In March 2018, Piedmont Healthcare announced a $171 million capital investment project for Piedmont Athens Regional which would include the addition of a fourth story to the Prince 2 building as well as the demolition of the 100 year old 1919 Tower in order to make space for a new, state of the art, seven story tower. The entire project is slated for a 2022 completion.
Who bought the land in Athens?
Milledge purchased 633 acres from Daniel Easley on July 25, 1801, and donated it to the university. He named the land Athens in honor of the Greek city that was the center of culture and learning during ancient times.
When was Athens founded?
In December 1806 , the town of Athens was officially incorporated and a three-member commission form of government was established. As the university began to grow in reputation around the state, commerce and industry, mainly from the cotton mills, sprung up as Athens became known as the Manchester of the South for its pioneering cotton technology. Rail lines would eventually connect Athens with other major southern cities beginning in 1841.
What was the first university in Georgia?
On January 27, 1785, the Georgia General Assembly chartered the University of Georgia as the first chartered state-supported university. The charter was drafted by Abraham Baldwin ...
Who were the five men who visited Jackson County?
In the summer of 1801, a delegation of five men (Baldwin, John Milledge, George Walton, John Twiggs, and Hugh Lawson ) traveled to what was then Jackson County to select a site for the university and contract for its building. The delegation unanimously agreed on siting the school on property on the hill above Cedar Shoals and the Oconee River.
Why did Athens become a city?
In an effort to see more racial progress , Athens became a city in which memorable protests in support of the Civil Rights Movement took place. Many black Athenians to this day remember the protests that took place many times in 1964 at the Varsity on West Broad Street in Athens, Georgia. The protests at the Varsity were in support ...
When was the Black Athens founded?
A Short History of Black Athens. Athens, Georgia was founded on December 1806. In 1860, slaves made up over half of the population in Athens, with 1,892 living in the area. During the Civil War from 1861 to 1865 there was no major battles within the Athens area. After the Confederate soldiers were defeated, freed slaves came in masses ...
How many people died in the Oconee lynching?
One of the nine survived, but the eight who died made the Oconee lynching one of the largest ever recorded. One Athens area lynching can be recalled as particularly heinous, the Moore’s Ford lynching of July 25, 1946 near the Oconee County-Walton County line.
What were the schools in Athens after the Confederate defeat?
The Knox Institute opened in 1868, the Methodist school in 1879 and Jeruel Academy in 1881.
What were the three black newspapers in Athens?
These newspapers were the Athens Blade, the Athens Clipper, and Progressive Era . Due to an increase in black professionals, the black middle class started to emerge with the assistance of the Freedman’s Bureau.
How many black neighborhoods were there in Athens?
Athens had eight large black neighborhoods along with five smaller groups of houses where African-Americans lived. In the early 1900s, Athens’ demographic representation was almost equally split, as the city had a total of 5,190 African-American residences, and 5,055 white residences. Even with an almost equal proportion ...
Did Athens have segregation?
Even though the town of Athens had no segregation ordinances after Jim Crow, whites and blacks were separated socially both by choice and economically. Blacks and whites continued to worship separately in churches. The first African American church in Athens was Hill First Baptist Church, which was founded in 1857.
What happened to Athens in 1200 BC?
Unlike other Mycenaean centers, such as Mycenae and Pylos, it is unclear whether Athens suffered destruction in about 1200 BC, an event traditionally attributed to a Dorian invasion (though now commonly attributed to a systems collapse, part of the Late Bronze Age collapse ). The Athenians always maintained that they were 'pure' Ionians with no Dorian element. However, Athens, like many other Bronze Age settlements, went into economic decline for around 150 years following this.
What is the history of Athens?
Jump to navigation Jump to search. Aspect of history. The Acropolis of Athens by Leo von Klenze (1846) Athens is one of the oldest named cities in the world, having been continuously inhabited for perhaps 5,000 years. Situated in southern Europe, Athens became the leading city ...
What was the size of the ancient city of Athens?
The ancient walled city encompassed an area measuring about 2 km (1 mi) from east to west and slightly less than that from north to south, although at its peak the ancient city had suburbs extending well beyond these walls. The Acropolis was situated just south of the centre of this walled area.
How many people were in Athens during the Peloponnesian War?
According to Thucydides, the Athenian citizens at the beginning of the Peloponnesian War (5th century BC) numbered 40,000 , making with their families a total of 140,000 people in all. The metics, i.e. those who did not have citizen rights and paid for the right to reside in Athens, numbered a further 70,000, whilst slaves were estimated at between 150,000 and 400,000. Meetings in the Athenian assembly could be attended by all Athenian male citizens, if they were over the age of twenty. Regular meetings were held in the Athenian assembly, about 40 per year. All male citizens that attended a meeting, had the right to speak and vote on the subject matter discussed at the meeting. Magistrates were elected at such meetings. After the conquests of Alexander the Great in the 4th century BC, the city's population began to decrease as Greeks migrated to the Hellenistic empires in the east.
How did Athens get its name?
The name of Athens, connected to the name of its patron goddess Athena, originates from an earlier Pre-Greek language. The origin myth explaining how Athens acquired this name through the legendary contest between Poseidon and Athena was described by Herodotus, Apollodorus, Ovid, Plutarch, Pausanias and others. It even became the theme of the sculpture on the West pediment of the Parthenon. Both Athena and Poseidon requested to be patrons of the city and to give their name to it, so they competed with offering the city one gift each. Poseidon produced a spring by striking the ground with his trident, symbolizing naval power.
Why did Athens fail to host the 1996 Olympics?
Athens had some of the worst traffic congestion and air pollution in the world at that time. This posed a new threat to the ancient monuments of Athens, as traffic vibration weakened foundations and air pollution corroded marble. The city's environmental and infrastructure problems were the main reason why Athens failed to secure the 1996 Centenary Olympic Games. Following the failed attempt to secure the 1996 Olympics, both the city of Athens and the Greek government, aided by European Union funds, undertook major infrastructure projects such as the new Athens Airport and a new metro system. The city also tackled air pollution by restricting the use of cars in the center of the city. As a result, Athens won its bid to host the 2004 Summer Olympic Games. Despite the skepticism of many observers, the games were a success and brought renewed prestige and tourism revenue to Athens. The 2008 Greek Riots began in Athens following the killing of a 15-year old student by an officer.
When was Athens inhabited?
Athens has been inhabited from Neolithic times, possibly from the end of the fourth millennium BC, or over 5,000 years. By 1412 BC, the settlement had become an important center of the Mycenaean civilization and the Acropolis was the site of a major Mycenaean fortress whose remains can be recognised from sections of the characteristic Cyclopean walls. On the summit of the Acropolis, below the later Erechtheion, cuttings in the rock have been identified as the location of a Mycenaean palace. Between 1250 and 1200 BC, to feed the needs of the Mycenaean settlement, a staircase was built down a cleft in the rock to reach a water supply that was protected from enemy incursions, comparable to similar works carried out at Mycenae.
Who settled in Georgia?
The earliest Europeans in North America, the Spanish, never established any permanent settlements within the region that would become Georgia, as they did in Florida and along the Gulf Coast. Their only attempt to do so, during a naval expedition led by Lúcas Vázquez de Ayllón in 1526, lasted only six weeks. Spanish expeditions moved through the region from the mid-1500s through the 1660s, the most notable of which was Hernando de Soto ’s expedition in 1540. His party’s documentation of various Indian chiefdoms provides some of the best descriptions of native life in Georgia prior to the eighteenth century. The Spanish presence also included Catholic missionaries, who established Santa Catalina de Guale and other short-lived missions at points along Georgia’s coast from 1568 through 1684. These missions played a key role in assimilating the Native American populations of the region into the colonial system.
What was the frontier settlement of Georgia?
The frontier settlement of Georgia was fraught with drama and conflict, from the infamous Yazoo land fraud that dominated state politics for much of the 1790s and beyond, to the gold rush in the north Georgia mountains in the 1830s, the most extensive and profitable gold rush east of the Mississippi River.
How did Georgia experience reconstruction?
Georgians experienced Reconstruction much like the residents of other southern states. The postwar years were filled with political tensions, struggles over federal occupation, and racial violence, with both the Freedmen’s Bureau and the Ku Klux Klan playing as prominent a role in Georgia as in any former Confederate state. More than 460,000 enslaved people were freed in Georgia during and after the war. Sherman was still in Savannah when he issued Field Order No. 15, a radical plan for land redistribution to the emancipated Black populace. The Order, which offered what were ultimately false hopes to freedpeople throughout the South, provides the origin of the term “forty acres and a mule.”
How did the Great Depression affect agriculture?
The Great Depression and the New Deal policies imposed to remedy its effects were equally transformative in their impact on Georgia agriculture. U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt was fully familiar with the plight of rural Georgians from his years of polio treatments at Warm Springs, both prior to and throughout his presidency. Inaugurated in 1933, Roosevelt created the Agricultural Adjustment Administration during his first 100 days in office as an attempt to raise crop prices by lowering agricultural production. An unintended consequence of the policy, however, was to put farmers out of work, causing even greater numbers to seek other means of employment. As a result, rural communities struggled to maintain their populations in the face of dwindling farming income and the lack of industrial job opportunities. Promising a surplus of cheap, nonunion labor and relying on a variety of inducements, some of which were financed by public subscription or deductions from workers’ checks, several Georgia towns succeeded in attracting small, low-wage employers—mostly textile mills —in the 1930s.
Why did the British want Georgia as a buffer zone?
Military concerns were a far more motivating force for the British government, which wanted Georgia (named for King George II) as a buffer zone to protect South Carolina and its other southern colonies against incursions from Florida by the Spanish, Britain's greatest rival for North American territory.
What was the impact of the loss of slave labor in Georgia?
The loss of the slave labor force dealt a severe blow to cotton production, which, compounded by a decline in the demand for cotton worldwide, left Georgia agriculture in dire financial circumstances. Neglected by a government focused on industrial and business opportunities, farmers had no choice but to participate in the tenant and crop lien systems, which imposed an exploitative and stifling credit system. By 1880 45 percent of Georgia’s farmers, Black and white, had been driven into tenancy, and by 1920 two-thirds of farmers worked on land they did not own, most often as sharecroppers.
What was the colony of Georgia?
Its formation came a half-century after the twelfth British colony, Pennsylvania, was chartered (in 1681) and seventy years after South Carolina's founding (in 1663). Georgia was the only colony founded and ruled by a Board of Trustees, which was based in London, England, with no governor or governing body within the colony itself for the first two decades of its existence. Perhaps most striking, Georgia was the only one of the North American colonies in which slavery was explicitly banned at the outset, along with rum, lawyers, and Catholics. ( Jews did not receive explicit permission from the Trustees to join the colony but were allowed to stay upon their arrival in 1733.) Rum was eventually legalized in 1742 and slavery in 1751, marking the weakening of Trustee rule. The colony was governed by royally appointed governors instead of a council of Trustees from 1752 to 1776, ending with the outbreak of the Revolutionary War (1775-83).
Who was the first European to settle in Georgia?
The first Europeans to set foot in Georgia were Spanish conquistadors : it is possible that Juan Ponce de Leon (1460–1521) made it to the coastal reaches of the future state by 1520. The first European colonization was on the coast, probably near St. Catherine's Island, and established by Lucas Vázques de Ayllón (1480–1526). Called San Miguel de Guadalupe, the settlement only lasted a few months before it was abandoned over the winter of 1526–1527 due to illness, death (including its leader), and factionalism.
Who founded the colony of Georgia?
The colony of Georgia was the last of the formally founded colonies in what would become the United States, in 1732 by Englishman James Oglethorpe.
What river did Oglethorpe use to get free land?
Its boundaries included all of the lands between the Savannah and Altamaha rivers, including much of present-day Alabama and Mississippi. Oglethorpe advertised in the London papers for poor people who would get free passage, free land, and all the supplies, tools, and food they would need for a year.
Why was the Oglethorpe colony named after himself?
However, when King George II granted Oglethorpe the right to create this colony named after himself, it was to serve a much different purpose. The new colony was to be located between South Carolina and Florida, to act as a protective buffer between the Spanish and English colonies.
Why did Georgia become a colony?
Historian Paul Pressly has suggested that unlike the other colonies, Georgia succeeded in the two decades before Independence because of its connections to the Caribbean and based on an economy of rice supported by the enslavement of Black people.
What was Georgia's unique feature?
Georgia was unique among the 13 British colonies in that no local governor was appointed or elected to oversee its population. Instead, the colony was ruled by a Board of Trustees that was located back in London. The Board of Trustees ruled that Catholics, lawyers, rum, and the enslavement of Black people were all banned within the colony.
Why did Georgia not fight against Great Britain?
Georgia was not a real presence in the fight against Great Britain. In fact, due to its youth and stronger ties to the 'Mother Country, ' many inhabitants sided with the British.
Who established the colony of Georgia?
Establishing the Colony of Georgia. In 1733, General James Oglethorpe, acting on behalf of the Trustees for the Establishment of the Colony of Georgia in England, landed a group of colonists and settled the town of Savannah in the new colony of Georgia.
Why was Georgia established?
Georgia was established in part as an experiment, based on ideals lost in the other colonies’ growth, and to provide the mother country with raw goods. The southern location and warm climate of Georgia led many to believe it would be suitable for the cultivation of silk and fruits.
What is the motto of Georgia?
The seal and motto are a symbol of Georgia’s role as a mercantile colony established to be the source of silk, not for their own benefit, but for England’s.
Who laid out the plan of Savannah?
Plan of Savannah. In 1733, General James Edward Oglethorpe laid out the plan of the city of Savannah based on a system of town wards, each containing building lots, trust lots, and a central square. By 1734, the first four squares were laid out.
Who was the colonist who settled Savannah?
In 1733, General James Oglethorpe, acting on behalf of the Trustees for the Establishment of the Colony of Georgia in England, landed a group of colonists and settled the town of Savannah in the new colony of Georgia. Georgia was established in part as an experiment, based on ideals lost in the other colonies’ growth, and to provide the mother country with raw goods. The southern location and warm climate of Georgia led many to believe it would be suitable for the cultivation of silk and fruits.
Who sketched the Savannah River?
Similar designs were used in the laying out of Ebenezer (seen below in 1747) and Brunswick. In March 1734, Peter Gordon , one of the colony’s original settlers, sketched the above view of Savannah looking south across the Savannah River at the settlement.
Overview
History
In the late 18th century, a trading settlement on the banks of the Oconee River called Cedar Shoals stood where Athens is today. On January 27, 1785, the Georgia General Assembly granted a charter by Abraham Baldwin for the University of Georgia as the first state-supported university. Georgia's control of the area was established following the Oconee War. In 1801, a committee from the univ…
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the balance has a total area of 118.2 square miles (306.1 km ), of which 117.8 square miles (305.1 km ) is land and 0.5 square miles (1.3 km ) (0.41%) is water.
Athens lies within the humid subtropical climate zone, with hot, humid summers and mild to moderately cold winters. Annual rainfall averages 49.7 inches (1,260 mm). Light to moderate sn…
Demographics
As of the 2020 United States census, there were 127,315 people, 51,640 households, and 23,615 families residing in the city.
As of the census of 2010, there were 100,266 people, 39,239 households, and 19,344 families residing in the city. The population density was 851.5 people per square mile (328.8/km ). There were 41,633 housing units at an average density of 353.6 per square mile (136.5/km ). The racia…
Government
In 1990, the City of Athens and Clarke County voters voted to unify their governments, becoming only the second unified government in Georgia and the 28th nationwide.
• Legislative: The government is headed by an elected mayor and 10 elected commissioners from 10 equally divided districts. Previously, they have been formed from 8 geographical districts and 2 super-districts covering districts 1–4 and 5–8
Law
The Athens-Clarke County Police Department (ACCPD) was formed by the merger of the law enforcement agencies of the City of Athens and Clarke County. As of February 2019 , Cleveland Lee Spruill Sr. was sworn in as the new Chief of Police. ACCPD is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA) and was named a "Gold Standard Agency" in 2013. ACCPD's 911 Communications Center is also CALEA certified and has reached …
Economy
Athens is home to a growing number of young technology companies including Docebo, Roundsphere, and Cogent Education. The city is also home to more established technology companies such as Partner Software, Peachtree Medical Billing, and Digital Insight.
Athens is home to several pharmaceutical manufacturing and biotechnology c…
Arts and culture
The Georgia Museum of Art at the University of Georgia has been, since 1982, the official state art museum. Culture coexists with the university students in creating an art scene, music scene, and intellectual environment. The city has music venues, restaurants, bars, and coffee shops that cater to its creative climate.