Athens () is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

in Henry Township, Fulton County,

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

, originally called Hoover Station. A post office established as Grant, on December 20, 1875, was moved to Hoover Station in 1883; Hoover Station was a waystation for the

Chicago and Atlantic Railway The Chicago and Atlantic Railway, later the Chicago and Erie Railroad, was a railway in the United States which existed from 1871 to 1941, and was an important connection between the Columbus, Ohio metropolitan area and Chicago, Illinois.Camp, M ...

, where Jacob Hoover was the

postmaster A postmaster is the head of an individual post office, responsible for all postal activities in a specific post office. When a postmaster is responsible for an entire mail distribution organization (usually sponsored by a national government), ...

and kept a general store with his brother. Jacob was the son of Henry and Sarah (Curtis)Hoover, the first white settlers of this area. The name was changed to Athens on May 28, 1896, for

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

.Baker, Ronald L. ''From Needmore to Prosperity: Hoosier place names in folklore and history'' Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1995. While the town is slowly being incorporated into Rochester, a tiny post office exists there for the few remaining residents who still have an Athens address.

Geography

Athens is located six miles east of Rochester along Indiana State Road 14.

References

Unincorporated communities in Fulton County, Indiana Unincorporated communities in Indiana 1875 establishments in Indiana Populated places established in 1875 {{FultonCountyIN-geo-stub