Athens Downtown Historic District

Downtown Athens, Ohio, is preserved as a historic district of 96 buildings along Court Street and four streets running east and west from it. Most date from the mid-1800s to the early 1920s and remain largely intact above the ground floor. The district includes the Athens County Courthouse of 1877-80, the 1874 Municipal Building, the Athens National Bank Building, the 1902 Presbyterian Church with Romanesque Revival influence, the early 20th century National Guard Armory with battlements, and the 1901 Junod Mill. Italianate commercial blocks, a 1917 theater with Art Deco influence, and several older houses add variety, including a frame I house probably built in the first half of the 19th century. Five modern buildings and three altered storefronts are noted as intrusions, but surrounding historic buildings limit their effect. The district is tied to a town that depended on Ohio University and to the area's mineral exploitation around 1900.