Twelve Athens women founded America's first garden club in 1891 in the Cobbham home of Mrs. E. K. Lumpkin. Today the Founders Memorial Garden on the University of Georgia campus commemorates these women.

The Green Hand is about a young man whose path to juvenile delinquency is rerouted through his participation in the Future Farmers of America. The film was based on the 1932 novel by Paul W. Chapman, an agriculture professor at the University of Georgia. Chapman appeared in the film version, whose cast consisted of students and faculty from the University of Georgia and the surrounding city of Athens.

On August 24, 1872, Henry Beusse was elected as the first mayor of Athens. He was instrumental in the city's rapid growth after the Civil War. After serving as mayor, he worked in the railroad industry and helped bring railroads to the region, creating growth in many of the surrounding communities.

The Morton Theatre was built in 1910 by Monroe Morton, a prominent, local, African-American business man. The theatre featured vaudeville acts and those of local, regional and national performers. Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, Bessie Smith, Louis Armstrong and Ma Rainey performed at the Morton during its heyday. It is one of only four black vaudeville theaters remaining in the country.