Athens Texas, Henderson County seat. (original) (raw)

Henderson County Seat, East Texas

32�12'10"N 95�50'57"W (32.202782, -95.849140)
27 miles S of I-20
Junction of State Hwy 31 and 19,
73 miles SE of Dallas on US Hwy 175
Population: 12,811 Est. (2016)
12,710 (2010) 11,297 (2000) 10,967 (1990)

Book Hotel Here › Athens Hotels

A Busy Day in Athens, Texas
Click on image to enlarge
Photo courtesy Danny Whatley

Historical Marker:

Athens

Founded 1850. Named for Athens, Greece. Supply and military training headquarters during Civil War. Sent army about 1,000 men. Center for manufacturing and agriculture. Home of annual Old Fiddlers' Contest and of Henderson County Junior College. Black-eyed peas capital of the world.
1964

Athens: Where the hamburger was invented

(From "East Texas Sunday Drives" by Bob Bowman)

Here's a Sunday Drive that will clear up the origin of the hamburger, carry you through a countryside that is half-East Texas and half-Central Texas, and enable you to visit several communties with interesting histories. For good measure, we've thrown in a couple of excellent Mexican food restaurants.

Start your tour in Athens, home of the hamburger and the world-famous black-eyed festival.

The hamburger had its beginning on Athens' interesting courthouse square in the 1880s when Fletcher Davis, who owned a downtown cafe, invented the sandwich. The delicacy was so popular that in 1904 a group of Athens businessmen raised enough money to send the inventor to the St. Louis World's Fair, where the hamburger was introduced to the world.

For many years, the growing, processing, canning and eating of black-eyed peas was a major part of life in Athens--so much so that Athens became the black-eyed pea capitol of the world, eventually spawing an annual jamboree each July.

Athens, the seat of Henderson County, was founded in l850, four years after Texas was annexed as a state by the U.S. The county was named for J. Pickney Henderson, the first governor of Texas, and Athens was named for the Grecian capital by the step-daugher of one of the town's founders in the hope that it could become the cultural center of Henderson County.

There are a number of things to see in Athens, including....more

Athens, Texas Landmarks/Attractions

• Henderson County Historical Museum
  217 N. Prairieville Street
• East Texas Arboretum & Botanical Society
  100 Acres of trails and paths, including a Bluebird trail.
  On Patterson Road off Highway 175
• Purtis Creek Recreational Area
  A 1500 acre park including Purtis Creek Lake
  12 miles North of town on FM 316
  Camping, hiking, fishing and boating.
• Cedar Creek Reservoir
  Between US 175 and Texas 274
  15 miles west of Athens
• Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center
  5550 Flat Creek Road. 903-676-2277
  Open Tuesday through Saturday 9 to 4 Sundays 1 -4
  An unusual opportunity to see every species of Texas freshwater fish in their natural habitat. Exhibits of record fish, largest largemouth bass in captivity and a casting pond stocked with rainbow trout and channel catfish.
• Athens Hotels > Book Here

Henderson County Historical Museum
Faulk-Gauntt Building
217 N. Prairieville St., NW of the courthouse.
Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1981
Photo courtesy Terry Jeanson, December 2011

Faulk-Gauntt Building historical marker.
Photo courtesy Terry Jeanson, December 2011

First Presbyterian Church
Photo courtesy Terry Jeanson, December 2011

Baptist Church
1915 Postcard courtesy courtesy www.rootsweb.com/ %7Etxpstcrd/
More Texas Churches

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