ATHENS - Henderson Co., TX

Submitted to the USGenWeb Archives by the 
East Texas Genealogical Society, P. O. Box 6967, Tyler, TX 75711 
19 January 2004

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EAST TEXAS FAMILY RECORDS, VOL. 6, NO. 1, SPRING 1982, page 26

ATHENS, TEXAS

Athens, in central Henderson County, was established in 1850 on a site 
selected by a board of Land commissioners for the new county seat to 
replace the earlier locations at Buffalo and Centerville. Mat Cartwright 
donated 100 acres from the Thomas Parmer survey for a townsite, a square 
was laid out, and streets were surveyed by Samuel Huffer. Dr. John 
Collins is said to have built the first house in the new town, originally 
called Alfred for Alfred F. Mallard, the post master.  During the town's 
first year, it was renaned Athens, either by Mrs. Dulholland Averitt for 
Athens, Greece or by Mrs. Dulcenia Thomas for her former home of Athens,
Georgia. The Masonic Lodge building, erected in 1850, housed the first 
school. In 1855 a Presbyterian church was built, J. M. Deen built a 
hotel and E. A. Carroll opened a store. The town was incorporated in 
1856, but the incorporation lapsed after a few years and was not renewed 
until 1901. The Athens BULLETIN, published on a hand press by J. H. Cox 
in 1873, suspended publication in 1875; it was followed by the ATHENIAN 
in 1884 and the Athens REVIEW in 1885. The town was reached by the
Cotton Belt Railroad (Later the St. Louis and Southwestern) in 1880 and 
by the Texas and New Orleans in 1900. (From the HANDBOOK OF TEXAS, Vol. I, 
The Texas State Historical Association, 1952, Austin, Texas.)