Athens

History

The first permanent European settlers arrived in Athens in 1797, more than a decade after the United States victory in the American Revolutionary War. In 1800, the town site was first surveyed and plotted and incorporated as a village in 1811. Ohio had become a state in 1803. Ohio University was chartered in 1804, the first public institution of higher learning in the Northwest Territory. Previously part of Washington County, Ohio, Athens County was formed in 1805, named 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 land 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. The act was approved by Arthur St. Clair, Governor of the Northwest Territory on January 9, 1802. However, no university with the name of American Western University would be established. Ohio became a state in 1803 and on February 18, 1804, the state legislature passed an act establishing the "Ohio University" in the town of Athens. Athens received city status in 1912, following the 1910 census showing the population had passed 5,000 residents, the requirement for city status in Ohio. Originally, large tracts of land 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…

Geography

According to the 2010 census, the city has a total area of , of which —or 97.81%—is land, and —or 2.19%—is water. Large sections of Athens and Ohio University are located in the floodplain of the Hocking River. Over the last two centuries the town suffered from many destructive floods, including notable floods in 1832, 1873, 1907, 1937, 1949, 1964 and 1968. In 1969 the United States Army Corps of Engineers completed a major work that rerouted and expanded the channel of the Hocking River, for a stretch of several miles around the town, moving the river hundreds of feet to the south. Athens has a hot-summer humid continental climate (Köppen Dfa), typical of most of Ohio.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  10,619
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  8,856
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  8,263
• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  8,100
• Song Sparrow

  Melospiza melodia (A.Wilson, 1810) · Aves
  8,086
• Carolina Wren

  Thryothorus ludovicianus (Latham, 1790) · Aves
  7,943
• Tufted Titmouse

  Baeolophus bicolor (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  7,746
• Carolina Chickadee

  Poecile carolinensis (Audubon, 1834) · Aves
  7,714