VOICES
A-TOWN After some exploration, one Backdropper sees their college town in a whole new light BY ANDIE HUNT | PHOTOS BY DYLAN BENEDICT
U
pon signing the lease on my house for the fall 2020 semester, the owners told me that it was built in the 1800s on President Street and moved not once, but twice, before it ended up where I live. As it was the early 19th century, the house was moved by horses through the streets of Athens. This discovery reminded me to look at this town with an eye of wonder instead of taking the bricks and their history for granted. Whether someone has lived in a town for three years or a lifetime, there is always something new to uncover. Living like a tourist close to home allowed me to break out of the routine of life interrupted by the coronavirus. Since social outings aren’t the safest way to pass the time, this adventure gave me an outlet to avoid potential boredom, while being a responsible citizen, and learning something along the way. “A building might just be an old building, then you learn something about it and the more you learn about it, the more interesting and fascinating it becomes,” says Tom O’Grady, a 40year Athens resident and Director of Development and Outreach and Director of Emeritus at the South East Ohio History Center. “You find out who designed it, where the materials came from that they built it with, and who lived there, or who worked in it, or what kind of an event occurred there, or who gave a speech there, and all of a sudden the building gets more and more and more important.” The site of the diner on Court Street was once a premiere hotel of America built by Edward Berry in 1893. The Berry Hotel created a new standard of hospitality as the first hotel in the country to provide Gideon bibles in each room, as well as sewing kits, cologne and individual closets for travelers. Berry attended the Albany Enterprise Academy just 11 miles down the road and became the
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most successful Black businessman in Ohio in the early 1900s. The OU Foundation purchased the hotel in 1961 and turned it into a parking lot in 1974. Pictures I have found feature bay windows and balconies, and a commanding brick structure that was fought for by Berry and his wife Martha. Decades later, I am curious as to why an architectural and cultural hub of Athens would be destroyed. The diner in the location of the old Berry Hotel.
On the corner of West Washington and Maple streets stands a two-story white house, taller than it is wide. A bronze plaque with gold letters is the only sign of antiquity. In 1886, this house served as the wedding venue for renowned leaders in higher education: Booker T. Washington and Olivia A. Davidson. Prior to meeting Washington, Davidson attended the Albany Enterprise Academy. The house was owned by Davidson’s sister and brother-in-law, and
