Downtown Athens

Hal Cofer, Sr., pictured at the far right, in front of his first seed store on the corner of N. Lumpkin and Washington Streets downtown.

with Hal Cofer

Sunday, September 20 @ 2 pm  SOLD OUT!

Downtown in the early to mid 1900s was the commercial hub of Athens. It was home to five and dime stores, car dealerships, medical and professional offices, hotels, theaters, grocery stores, clothing stores, furniture stores, drugstores, and funeral parlors. The businesses on the lower end of Broad Street catered to the farmers who came to town in their wagons to buy goods and visit the blacksmiths, livery stables, cotton warehouses and seed and feed stores that were located there. By contrast, Clayton Street attracted city dwellers with its clothing stores and department stores such as Michael Brothers. Boarding houses and private residences were still common downtown and streetcars ran from the “suburbs” of Cobbham, Five Points and Boulevard, bringing shoppers and employees into town. The demise of the farming economy, integration, urban renewal, the growth of the University and the development of Athens’ first mall have all wrought their changes on downtown, yet it remains the thriving heart and soul of Athens. This tour will take you through 40 years of downtown history as witnessed first-hand by one of its key players. This tour will last approximately 2 hours.

Your tour guide:

Hal Cofer, Jr. is a second-generation Athenian whose father established the family business H. L. Cofer & Co. downtown in 1922. From the time he was a child in his father’s store through his eventual ownership of the business, Cofer had a front seat to a period of incredible change downtown. He grew up in the Cobbham, Boulevard and Five Points neighborhoods and attended Athens’ schools, graduating from Athens High School. Cofer received his business degree from the University of Georgia after a two-year stint in the Navy during World War II and joined his father’s business upon graduation. Cofer has served as president of the Athens Downtown Business Council, the Kiwanis Club and the Clarke County Republicans.