| The Georgia legislature signs a charter designating the University of Georgia as America's first state-chartered university and appoints Abraham Baldwin, the charter's originator, as UGA's first president. |
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John Milledge buys 633 acres at Cedar Shoals on the Oconee River and donates the tract of land for the University of Georgia campus. |
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UGA's second president Josiah Meigs holds the first classes in a log cabin in early fall. Clarke County, named after Revolutionary War hero Elijah Clarke, is created in December. |
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The first class of nine students graduates from the University. Tradition of the local sheriff leading dignitaries, faculty, and students to commencement ceremonies begins. |
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The cities of Athens and Watkinsville, the county seat, are incorporated. Franklin College—named for Ben Franklin and later renamed Old College—becomes the first permanent structure on campus. |
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Moses Waddel, a Presbyterian minister and one of UGA's most active presidents, increases enrollment to 100 and institutes strict rules, including no body servants, guns, horses, or whiskey on campus. |
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Railroad service finally reaches Clarke County at Carr's Hill. It is the only railroad line extending into Northeast Georgia at the time. |
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Funds from the sale of UGA's first botanical garden (established in 1833) are used to build a wrought-iron fence and Arch gate around North Campus. Purpose: to keep out livestock. |
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Alfred Richardson and Madison Davis, two former slaves, are the first black men to represent Clarke County in the state legislature. |
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Athens native Ben T. Epps designs, builds and flies the first airplane in Georgia, thereby becoming the first Southern aviator. He also opens the Athens airport. |
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Monroe "Pink" Morton opens Morton Theatre on Washington Street. Today, it is the only black vaudeville theatre left on the National Register of Historic Places. |
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Henry Grady Palmour, a UGA senior, becomes the last passenger of an Athens streetcar, as buses take over public transportation. |
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UGA chancellor S.V. Sanford rehires two professors fired under Gov. Eugene Talmadge's administration for supporting desegregation. Their dismissal nearly costs the University its accreditation. |
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Junior Ladies Garden Club plants a sapling from an acorn of The Tree that Owns Itself at the corner of Dearing and Finley Streets. The original tree collapsed from high winds in 1942. |
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Sonny and Cecilia Seiler begin the Uga athletic mascot dynasty after Dan Magill spots the couple's English bulldog at a UGA football game the previous season. |
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After a long court battle, Charlayne Hunter and Hamilton Holmes become the first two black undergraduate students to be admitted to the University. |
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A new law allowing the sale of liquor is approved—and also sets a record for the largest voter turnout for a Clarke County referendum. |
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A nameless band performs for the first time at St. Mary's Episcopal Church on Oconee Street for a friend's birthday. R.E.M. goes on to worldwide super-stardom, and is still based in Athens. |
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Athens-Clarke County Unified Government is established, the 28th such city-county consolidation in the U.S. |
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Visitors and media from around the world descend on Athens, as UGA provides venues for Olympic volleyball, soccer, and rhythmic gymnastics for '96 Atlanta Games. |
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Athens-based Widespread Panic sets a record for the largest album release party in history when their outdoor concert in front of the 40 Watt Club draws 100,000 fans. |
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Athens is the first stop in the Olympic Torch Relay for the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City after the relay begins in Atlanta. |