- 1785:
University of Georgia
chartered "on paper" as the first state-chartered land grant
university.
- 1801:
A five-man delegation unanimously agrees to locate UGA on a hill above
Cedar Shoals. One of the members, John Milledge, buys 633 acres from
Daniel Easley on July 25, names it Athens and donates this land to University
of Georgia for its siting.
- 1804:
First UGA class graduates.
- 1806:
Town of Athens incorporated.
- 1820:
Church-Waddel-Brumby House built. The oldest surviving residence in
Athens, the house was saved from demolition and moved in 1972 a few
hundred feet away to its present location on the corner of Dougherty
and Thomas Streets where it serves as the Athens Welcome Center.
- 1834:
Athens gained its first suburb, named the "Village of Cobbham"
after John A. Cobb. Eighty lots of land were subdivided and sold off
next to new town limits established by university trustees the year
prior.
- 1841:
First
railroad line links Athens. However, the line stops at Carr's Hill on
the far side of the Oconee River, requiring a "tedious trek"
into town.
- 1850s:
Ware-Lyndon House built.
- 1856:
Bank of Athens opened, Oconee Hill Cemetery opens.
- 1859:
The Lucy Cobb Institute opens and is soon one of the finest girls’
schools in the nation. The institute educated women until 1931 when
the buildings were turned over to UGA.
- 1861:
Georgia declares itself out of the Union on January 19.
- 1863:
The one of a kind double-barreled cannon
is designed by John Gilleland and manufactured at the Athens Foundry.
- 1863:
The University of Georgia "temporarily" suspends classes,
a move that lasts until January 3, 1866.
- 1867:
Naturalist John Muir passes through Athens on his famous one-thousand-mile
walk to Florida from Kentucky. In his diary, he calls Athens "a remarkably
beautiful and aristocratic town, containing many classic and magnificent
mansions…Unmistakable marks of culture and refinement, as well
as wealth were everywhere apparent. [It] is the most beautiful town
I have seen on the journey so far, and the only one in the South that
I would like to revisit."
- 1868:
Two former slaves, Alfred Richardson and Madison Davis, are elected
in April as the first two black men ever to represent Clarke County
in the state legislature.
- 1871:
Seat
of Clarke County moves from Watkinsville to Athens.
- 1872:
Athens is chartered as a city.
- 1875:
Oconee
County is split off from Clarke County.
- 1890:
First story appears on August 12 in the Athens
Weekly Banner about the Tree That
Owns Itself, an oak tree that was deeded by Professor William Jackson
to its own possession. The tree fell in 1942, but a seedling from its
acorn was planted in the same spot as the tree and still stands today.
- 1891:
In the Cobbham home of Mrs. E. K. Lumpkin, America's first garden club
holds its initial meeting. Members discussed plant cuttings and experimented
with plants at their meetings every other week. Any Athenian was invited
to participate in the meetings, as well as the club's flower and vegetable
shows
- 1891:
The first electric streetcar runs on June 23 on Prince and Milledge
Avenues, Boulevard, and Barber and Lumpkin Streets.
- 1896:
Brumby's Drugstore in downtown Athens is lit up on December 12
using power generated by the new hydroelectric station at
Mitchell's Bridge. This is the first use of electric lighting in Athens.
- 1901:
Fire Hall No. 2 is built in Cobbham at the intersection of Prince Avenue
and Hill Street.
- 1904:
Present-day City Hall is completed.
Included in the building are city offices, council chambers, and armory
for the local militia, and adjacent office space for the Chamber of
Commerce.
- 1904:
City
of Winterville incorporated.
- 1906:
Clarke County's first hospital opens and later closes in 1937. It reopens
one year later as St. Mary’s and eventually moves to Baxter Street
in 1965.
- 1907:
Athens resident Ben Epps designs, builds, and briefly flies the first
airplane in the state of Georgia. The flight occurs only four years
after the Wright brothers' first ever flight in 1903. Epps' uses Washington
Street for take-off and landing. In 1919, Epps and Monte Rolfe rent
the land currently occupied by Athens-Ben
Epps Airport and operate a flying service. Epps died in a plane
crash on takeoff in 1937.
- 1908:
Athens' first skyscraper, the seven-story tall Southern Mutual Insurance
Company building, is completed. The building, located on College Avenue,
is the only ferro concrete office building in the South, the first example
of Commercial-style architecture in northeast Georgia, and a model of
fireproof construction.
- 1914:
Clarke County Courthouse built and
is still in use today.
- 1919:
Athens Regional Medical Center opens to the pubic
- 1927:
Charles Lindbergh does a scheduled "buzz" at all the Athens schools
after his famous New-York-to-Paris flight.
- 1928:
Athens' first radio station, WTFI, begins broadcasting. The station
eventually moves to Atlanta and is replaced in 1937 by WGAU, which still
broadcasts today.
- 1929:
Sanford Stadium opens at the University of Georgia to host football
games.
- 1939:
Athens
purchases the Lyndon-Ware House, making
it the first public building after City
Hall.
- 1948:
The Georgia Museum
of Art opens in its first location, the basement of Piedmont Library.
- 1954:
The U.S. Navy Supply
Corps School moves from the New York Naval Yard to Athens. The school
continues today to provide logistics training in the areas of supply,
transportation, maintenance and other logistics services for Department
of Defense and international personnel.
- 1956:
City and county school
systems merge.
- 1961:
Charlayne Hunter and Hamilton Holmes are the first African-Americans
to attend the University of Georgia.
- 1963:
Clarke County public school system is integrated by four black girls
- Wilucia Green, Margie Green, Agnes Green, and Bonnie Hampton.
- 1963:
Beechwood Shopping Center, Athens' first shopping center, opens.
- 1973:
Lyndon
House Arts Center becomes Athens' first government sponsored community
arts program.
- 1974:
Charles Mack becomes the first African-American elected to Athens City
Council.
- 1976:
Athens Transit System begins service on November 1.
- 1979:
The first annual Twilight Criterium urban bicycle race is held.
- 1980:
R.E.M. plays its
first ever show on April 5 at a friend's birthday party.
- 1980:
Georgia Square Mall opens as the county's first and only mall.
- 1981:
The University of Georgia wins the 1980 National Championship in football
on New Year’s Day with a win over Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl.
- 1984:
Michael Thurmond, an Athens native, becomes the first African-American
elected to the Georgia Assembly from Athens since Reconstruction. He
represents a majority white district.
- 1990:
City of Athens and Clarke County voters vote to unify their governments
on August 9, becoming only the second unified government in Georgia
and the twenty-eighth nationwide.
- 1990:
Georgia's first greenway, Sandy Creek Greenway, is dedicated. The greenway
is a 4.1-mile hiking trail that connects Sandy Creek Park with Sandy
Creek Nature Center.
- 1996:
Athens-Clarke County hosts soccer, volleyball and rhythmic gymnastics
events (including the finals) for the Centennial Olympic Games in Atlanta.
The United States women’s soccer team wins a gold medal in Sanford
Stadium.
- 1998:
Athens band Widespread
Panic holds a free concert in downtown Athens and draws an estimated
100,000 people.
City
of Athens History | Clarke County History
| Unification History | Winterville
History
-
Sources:
- A Portrait
of Historic Athens and Clarke County by Frances Taliaferro Thomas
- Athens,
Georgia: Celebrating 200 Years at the Millennium by Conoly &
Al Hester
|
