Athens. 1 City (2020 population 25406), seat of Limestone co., N Al; inc. 1818. One of the first incorporated cities in Alabma, the city was established a year before the state was admitted to the union in 1819, and originally named Athenson. The state's first two governors hailed from the town, as did its first post-Civil War governor, George S. Houston. Union troops occupied it in 1862, and following the war, the Trinity School was established there as a school for exslaved people's children. Traditionally a center for cotton production, the city now supports the regional aerospace industry. It is the home of the Browns Ferry Nuclear Power Plant, which suffered a major accident in 1975. Athens State Univ. is located there (founded 1822 as the Athens Female Academy). 2Conslidated city-county (2020 pop. 128,671), seat of Clarke co., NE Ga., on the Oconee River, in a piedmont area; inc. 1806. The city was founded as the site of the Univ. of Georgia. Its industries include poultry processing, research and development, and the manufacture of textiles, electronic goods, pharmaceuticals, and clocks and watches. Numerous Georgia statesmen have lived in Athens, and some of their houses are among the city's fine examples of classic revival style—the Howell Cobb house (1850), the T. R. R. Cobb house (1830–43), and the Joseph H. Lumpkin house (c.1845). Notable rock groups including the B-52s and R.E.M. have formed in the city as outgrowths of its large college population. 3 City (2020 pop. 23,849), seat of Athens co., SE Ohio, on bluffs overlooking the Hocking River, in a coal-mining area of the Appalachian foothills; inc. 1811. Printing and tool-making industries are in the city. Athens was surveyed in 1795–96 by the Ohio Company of Associates as the site of a university and was settled shortly thereafter. It is the seat of Ohio Univ. Wayne National Forest lies to the north. 4 Town (2020 pop. 12,753), seat of Henderson co., NE Tex, inc. 1856. An agricultural center, it once was a major producer of cotton and vegetables, earning the nickname "The Black-Eyed Pea Capitol of the World." It is the home of the East Texas Arboretum and Botanical Society and the main campus of Trinity Valley Community College.
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