Athens

Formed March 1, 1805 (20^th county)

Athens County (62,757), Athens (23,842)

The outstanding 1880 red brick Second Empire structure serves Athens County.  The courthouse is on Court and Washington streets.  United States Highway 50 is five blocks east of the site.  Henry E. Myer is the building designer.  The structure features a tower with working clock and columns.  The building was renovated in 1935 and 2004.  An Annex has been added to support the courthouse.  Athens County was formed on March 1, 1805 from Washington County as the 20^th county with Athens as the only county seat.  The county and county seat are named for Athens, Greece.  Athens County is the birthplace of 1 Ohio Governor, John W. Brown. 

Athens County government consists of an auditor, a sheriff, an attorney, and a coroner (executive).  It has 3 Commissioners (legislative.)  Three Common Pleas Court Judges and a court clerk serve Athens County (judicial.)  The county is located in the southeast part of Ohio.  Columbus, Ohio is northwest and Cincinnati, Ohio is west of the county.  The county center is 3.7 miles Northeast of Athens.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Morgan and Washington counties and West Virginia and Meigs, Vinton, Hocking, and Perry counties. 

The area of the county is 506.8 square miles.  It is 23 out of 88 in the state.  It ranks 41 out of 88 in population in the state.  It has a density of 123.2 persons per square mile making it 42 out of 88 in the state.  Athens County has 54.2% of its population in its incorporated areas.  United States Highway 33 enters the county from the northwest, Hocking County, and exits to the south, Meigs County.  United States Highway 50 crosses east to west from Washington County to Meigs County.  The county resembles a tugboat sailing east.  The City of Athens is located in the southwest quarter of the county.  Athens is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 38.2% of the county population.  This county is in the Athens Micropolitan Statistical Area.

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