Athens, Ohio Athens, Ohio Location of Athens in Athens County and the state of Ohio Location of Athens in Athens County and the state of Ohio County Athens Athens is a town/city in and the governmental center of county of Athens County, Ohio, United States.
A historic college town, Athens is home to Ohio University and is the principal town/city of the Athens, Ohio Micropolitan Statistical Area.
Athens is a qualified Tree City USA as recognized by the National Arbor Day Foundation. Athens is positioned in what was once the easterly region of two primary Native American mound-building groups, the Adena culture from c.
300 BC to 700 AD. By the middle of the eighteenth century, the Shawnee, an Algonquian tribe, were the major tribe of Native Americans living in what would turn into Athens County.
The first permanent European pioneer appeared in Athens in 1797, more than a decade after the United States victory in the American Revolutionary War.
Ohio University was chartered in 1804, the first enhance institution of higher learning in the Northwest Territory.
Previously part of Washington County, Ohio, Athens County was formed in 1805, titled for the ancient center of learning, Athens, Greece.
Ohio University in Athens was established with the first federal endowment of an educational institution in the United States.
In July 1787, the Congress of the Confederation gave to the Ohio Company of Associates "two townships of good territory for the support of a literary institution" in the newly created Northwest Territory. During The First Session of the Second Territorial General Assembly, held in Chillicothe from November 23, 1801 to January 23, 1802, the General Assembly passed an act establishing the "American Western University" at Athens.
Ohio became a state in 1803 and on February 18, 1804, the state council passed an act establishing the "Ohio University" in the town of Athens. Athens received town/city status in 1912, following the 1910 census showing the populace had passed 5,000 residents, the requirement for town/city status in Ohio.
Originally, large tracts of territory in Athens and Alexander Townships were set aside through a contract between the Congress (under the Articles of Confederation) and the Ohio Company of Associates, a group of American Revolutionary War veterans.
Today it is one of the biggest establishments of higher learning in Ohio, with an enrollment of over 19,000 on the Athens ground and over 28,000 for all campuses.
Today, the biggest employer in the county is Ohio University.
In 1843, the Hocking Canal opened, enabling shipping from the Ohio River up the Hocking River, which passes through Athens, to Nelsonville, Ohio, and points beyond.
The Athens Lunatic Asylum, then called the Athens State Hospital, opened in 1874.
The state hospital was eventually decommissioned and the property was deeded to Ohio University.
Hocking River valley facing Ohio University The county extends west from the Ohio River, mostly centered around the lower Hocking River watershed.
According to the 2010 census, the town/city has a total region of 10.05 square miles (26.0 km2), of which 9.83 square miles (25.5 km2) (or 97.81%) is territory and 0.22 square miles (0.57 km2) (or 2.19%) is water. Large sections of Athens and Ohio University are positioned in the floodplain of the Hocking River.
Athens is positioned mostly on and around a south-jutting ridge bordered by a loop in the Hocking River.
The old Athens Mental Hospital grounds (now part of the university) was assembled on the top of a hillside in the late 1860s, and is completely stable due to its position up on the hill clean water on a slope.
The town/city receives all its waterworks from wells in unconsolidated river aquifers, and is assumed to be the biggest city in the United States to do so. Court Street, the chief street in Uptown Athens The City of Athens has always been known as a 'college town,' but from the mid-1800s until the 1950s, coal & brick-making was a primary source of employment in the county.
One of the manufacturing companies that once existed in the City of Athens was the Midget Motors Corporation, manufacturers of the small automobile, the King Midget.
Ohio University is now the biggest employer in Athens County.
Athens also homes a small array of manufacturing and technology related businesses, including Quidel Corporation (formerly Diagnostic Hybrids), Stewart-Mac - Donald, Sunpower, Fastenall, and Gorman-Redlich.
Many of these attributes are illustrated at the Athens Farmers Market, presently open year-round on Saturdays and Wednesdays at The Market on State on the city's east side.
Ohio University's chief 'college green' entrance is positioned at Court & Union.
Outside of the uptown area, Athens shopping areas located; the biggest on East State Street with a small mall, a several shopping strip centers, plus large box stores, car dealerships, hotels/motels and many small-town and nationwide sit-down / fast food restaurants.
Athens has a long musical tradition that includes small-town acts and affairs for touring musicians, performing at Ohio University and celebrations in Athens.
The folk song "Athens County" - words by Joe Dolce; music by Jonathan Edwards - refers to Athens, Ohio, where Edwards & Dolce attended college in the late 60s.
Bands hailing from Athens include The Headstone Circus, The Snapdragons, Appalachian Death Ride, She Bears, Southeast Engine, The Ridges and the metal band Skeletonwitch. Athens native Steve Reis, a founder of the Columbus, Ohio-based band Mc - Guffey Lane titled his band after a street in Athens. In 1973, the Ohio Valley Summer Theater began a manufacturing called the Appalachian Green Parks Project.
On July 4, 1974, made various tv appearances, provided the soundtrack for an Ohio Department Of Natural Resources enhance service film titled Sweet Ohio, were designated as the official Bicentennial Touring Group for the state of Ohio, and were the subject of a documentary film amid their four-year run.
A University park on Richland Ave was designed by Athens' own Maya Lin. Athens is home to the annual Halloween Block Party, a massive global spectacle that draws consideration from news media athwart the world each year.
Ohio University's citation as the world's most haunted institution of college studies by the British Psychical Institute; Athen's citation as one of the 10 most haunted American cities; and the annual Halloween celebration, have dually added to Athens' reputation as one of the 10 most terrifying places on Earth and the "The World Capital of Halloween." Athens was vaunted as one of the top fifteen most haunted metros/cities in America on the Fox Family Channel special "Scariest Places On Earth" that aired on October 23, 2000.
Athens County Historical Society and Museum DBA The Southeast Ohio History Center: Historic items relating to life in Athens County Kennedy Museum of Art at Ohio University: Major collections include Southwest Native American textiles and jewelry.
The Athens Community Music Festival is held each August and features dozens of small-town bands. The Ohio Brew Week has been held every year in Athens since 2006.
The Athens Area Sustainability Festival is held annually at the beginning of October at the Athens Fairgrounds; it began in 2001. The Pawpaw Festival has been held annually since 1999 in September at Lake Snowden just southwest of Athens, near Albany.
The organization who coordinated the event was removed from ground in 2003. Starting in 2004, Ohio University Seniors Dominic Petrozzi and Timothy Kehoe created One Fest.
Ohio University sponsors an annual Literary Festival every spring.
The annual Athens International Film and Video Festival is one of the several celebrations that are on the official list of Academy Award-qualifying festivals.
Local, county-wide to nationwide bands (groups) perform in up-town bars, clubs, coffee homes or in performing centers in the Athens area. Ohio University provides intercollegiate athletics, including Ohio Bobcats football, men's basketball, and women's volleyball.
The 2010 Sporting News list of the "best sports cities" ranked Athens 98 out of 402 eligible cities, putting it ahead of much larger metros/cities such as Norfolk, Virginia; El Paso, Texas; Spokane, Washington; and Fresno, California. In addition to Ohio Bobcats athletics, Athens is home to the Southern Ohio Copperheads, a baseball team of the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League.
Athens City Schools fields squads at the Middle School (7th & 8th grades) and at Athens High School as the 'Green & Gold' Bulldogs with over 14 male/female squads offered.
Athens recreation facilities include a improve recreation center, a several city parks and play grounds, enhance plant nurseries, soccer fields, an arts center called Arts West, two off-leash enclosed dog parks, and an extensive scenic trail fitness in the town/city lands, adjoining Strouds Run State Park, and the Blair Preserve owned by the Athens Conservancy.
The Athens Skate Park is the second biggest skate park in Ohio.
The City of Athens Ohio Community Recreation center offers programming in athletics, childcare, sports camps, improve affairs and more.
It sponsors adult summer and fall slow-pitch softball that is prominent among inhabitants in Athens and the county.
Soccer leagues are organized year round, with programs offered through the Community Recreation Center, Ohio University and the Athens Soccer Academy.
Strouds Run State Park is positioned just outside the city, bordering the town/city line.
The City of Athens has recently established the Strouds Ridge Preserve project, presently including some 345 acres (140 ha), to save territory from evolution adjoining to the state park.
Also adjoining to the state park is the 75-acre (300,000 m2) Blair Preserve, owned by the Athens Conservancy.
The Hockhocking Adena Bikeway is a multi-use asphalt trail with its chief hub (mile marker 0) at the Athens Community Center on East State Street.
The trail, which generally follows the course of the Hocking River, provides access to the East State Street commercial areas, Ohio University's ground (at South Green and Peden Stadium), The Plains, and Hocking College.
The Athens Trail Network is a multi-use trail network branching out from Sells' City Park at the end of Avon Place.
The trails furnish scenic views of the East State Street commercial region and travel past and through notable features such as Sells Pond, Riddle State Nature Preserve (also known as Hawk Woods), Boulder Cove, Turtlehead Cave (also known as Blue Ash Rockhouse), Finger Rock, Pioneer Cemetery, and Dow Lake at Strouds Run State Park.
The Athens County Courthouse Athens is also veiled by the Athens County Department of Health, the Athens County Planning Office, and Athens County Job and Family Services.
The town/city of Athens has a strict parking policy.
Any vehicle parked for more than 48 hours on any town/city street will be taken by town/city order, and is subject to a minimum $145 redemption cost ($125 towing plus $20 ticket).
The department not only covers the metros/cities fire department needs but also that of Ohio University. The City is part of the county-wide Enhanced 911 system.
The town/city has a large number of rental homes/apartments which are inspected by the Housing Code Office. The town/city of Athens is the governmental center of county making it the home of many county government offices and the county courthouse at the corner of Court and Washington streets.
Each of Athens County's three commissioners are usually from the town/city of Athens.
President Barack Obama visited the town/city and Ohio University late amid the 2012 re-election campaign.
The town/city and Athens County have voted Democratic amid all presidential elections since 1976.
Ohio University is a enhance college located in Athens (23,000+ students) that is situated on an 1,800-acre (7.3 km2) campus.
Founded in 1804, it is the earliest college in Ohio, earliest in the Northwest Territory, and ninth earliest enhance college in the United States.
Known as the Bobcats, Ohio University hosts over 250 academic programs, 5,300 employees, and has been recognized by the John Templeton Foundation as one of the top character building establishments in the country. In addition to its chief campus in Athens, Ohio University also operates county-wide campuses in Chilicothe, Cleveland, Dublin, Ironton (Ohio University - Southern), Lancaster, Pickerington, Proctorville, St.
Outside of Ohio University, the inhabitants of Athens are served by the Athens City School District, established in the late 1840s, made up of five elementary buildings: Pre-K (Chauncey), K-6 (East, Morrison-Gordon, The Plains & West), a Middle School (grades 7-8) and Athens High School home of the 'Bulldogs'.
The town/city also served by the Athens County Public Libraries with chapters in Athens, Albany, Chauncey, Coolville, Glouster, Nelsonville, and The Plains.
Local media of Athens, Ohio includes: The Post, the student run journal of Ohio University The New Political, digital student-run printed announcement at Ohio University covering politics.
AM Public Radio: WOUB-AM, 1340 AM, Ohio University student-operated airways broadcast WATH-AM, 970 AM (oldies) (Athens; Flagship of OU & Copperhead Baseball & Athens High Sch Football & Basketball) The Athens Musician Network, a website established in 1997 dedicated to archiving and promoting Athens' rich musical heritage.
It was not that long ago an uptown T-shirt shop had a top selling shirt that read, "Athens Ohio - it is not the end of the earth, But you can see it." Athens was not an easy place to get to. Railroad came to the town/city in the 1850s, with the last passenger train ending in the early 1980s. That left a several freight trains passing near the city.
Four lanes from Athens to Belpre/Parkersburg was instead of in the late 1990s on US-50, SR-32 & 7 hooking up with I-77. In the early 2000s, SR-33 'Super-2' highway was complete, linking Athens to I-77 at Ravenswood, WVa.
Ohio University has a undivided county-wide airport about 15 miles southwest of the town/city near Albany off US-50/SR-32 called Gordon K.
The town/city is famous for parking issues, so Athens has a enhance bus fitness which has a several routes inside the town/city and one to The Plains. OU has a small bus fitness that links with a town/city bus system.
Athens also has an inter-city bus line from Athens to Columbus, Cincinnati and Marietta, running twice a day with stops in-between. At Ohio University the Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine was established in 1975.
The Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine has 814 students enrolled athwart three campuses in Athens, Cleveland, and Dublin. Ohio University partners with University Medical Associates (UMA), which was established in 2003, and is a wide-ranging medical service provider in multiple locations around the Athens area, both on ground and off.
Ohio University also runs Campus Care, which is an on-campus clinic for enrolled students. The Castrop Center homes Athens Cancer Center, medical offices plus a enhance pharmacy.
On the east side of the Athens there is Holzer Clinic part of Holzer Medical group of Gallipolis, Ohio.
"Athens County Profile - Ohio County Profiles - Ohio Department of Development - Office of Policy, Research and Planning" (PDF).
Athens, Ohio: Ohio University Press.
The Biographical Annals of Ohio, 1906-1907-1908: A Handbook of the Government and Institutions of the State.
A Legal History of the Ohio University, Athens, Ohio, including Resolutions of Congress, Contracts, Territorial and State Enactments, Judicial Decisions, etc.
Athens, Ohio: WOUB-FM.
"Ohio: Population and Housing Unit Counts" (PDF).
"Ohio presidential election results: A swing state without many swing counties.
Athens Farmers Market.org https://athensfarmersmarket.org/index.php?page=AFMHistory Athens Trail.
"Athens, OH - Official Website".
"Athens, OH - Official Website - Police Department".
"Athens, OH - Official Website - Fire Department".
"Ohio University is the First College in the Northwest Territory".
"Ohio University Fact Book" (PDF).
"Ohio University Regional Campus Maps".
"The Athens Messnger".
"The Athens Messenger".
Athens, Ohio: Ancestry.com.
Getting to Know Athens County.
Athens, Ohio: The Stone House (1984) Athens, Ohio: The Village Years.
Athens, Ohio: Ohio University Press (1997) Athens, Ohio travel guide from Wikivoyage Municipalities and communities of Athens County, Ohio, United States County seat: Athens
Categories:
Cities in Athens County, Ohio - County seats in Ohio - University suburbs in the United States - Populated places established in 1811 - 1811 establishments in Ohio
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