Historic Sites in Clarke County

The history of Clarke County

Clarke County was created on December 5, 1801, from part of Jackson County and named for Elijah Clarke, the militia leader who helped win the Revolutionary War Battle of Kettle Creek in 1779. In 1801 Athens was chosen as the site for the University of Georgia, which the General Assembly had chartered in 1785 as the first university in America created by a state government. John Milledge bought 633 acres for the school, and Josiah Meigs began teaching the first classes in 1801. Watkinsville served as the original county seat until the seat moved to Athens in 1871, and in 1875 the southwestern part of the county became Oconee County. The railroad reached Athens in 1841. During the Civil War the university closed, Athens manufactured rifles at the Cook and Brother Armory and produced the experimental double-barreled cannon, and brief skirmishes were fought at Barber's Creek south of town in August 1864. In January 1961 Hamilton Holmes and Charlayne Hunter enrolled as the university's first Black students, desegregating the institution. Landmarks from the city's past include the Greek Revival Taylor-Grady House and the Morton Theatre, built in 1910 by Monroe B. "Pink" Morton. In 1990 voters approved combining the city of Athens and Clarke County into a single unified government, now known as Athens-Clarke County.

Sources: en.wikipedia.orggeorgiaencyclopedia.orggeorgiaencyclopedia.org