Athens, Michigan
14 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1918 and the latest in 1982. It stands in Athens Township. It lies in ZIP code area 49011. The Survey maps it on the Union City quadrangle. 936 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 889 feet above sea level.
On record in Athens
Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.
On the National Register 1 record
- Pine Creek Potawatomi Reservationlisted 1973
Population over time
2 figuresAthens fell from 1,024 to 936 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 1,024 | |
| 2020 | 936 | -88 (-9%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
8 surveys from 14 printed sheetsMatched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.
- 1918 USGS Union City quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
- 1947 USGS Union City quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1950 USGS Union City quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1958 USGS Grand Rapids quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1961 USGS Grand Rapids quadrangle1:250000
- 1962 USGS Grand Rapids quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1982 USGS Kalamazoo quadrangle1:100000
- 1982 USGS Union City quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
12 since 2018Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 12 fires within 5 miles of Athens between 2018 and 2020, burning about 13 acres in total. 1 started naturally. None was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 5 |
| Natural | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 September 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | UNION CITY FD 0000049 - 2019 |
| 5 September 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1.0 acres | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | UNION CITY FD 0000048 - 2019 |
| 29 September 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1.0 acres | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | BURLINGTON TOWNSHIP FD 0000148 - 2018 |
| 28 September 2018 | Natural | 1.0 acres | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | ATHENS TOWNSHIP FD 0000181 - 2018 |
| 3 July 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | UNION CITY FD 0000030 - 2019 |
| 6 May 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1.0 acres | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | ATHENS TOWNSHIP FD 0000080 - 2018 |
| 30 April 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | ATHENS TOWNSHIP FD 0000078 - 2018 |
| 20 April 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | ATHENS TOWNSHIP FD 60 - 2020 |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
1 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of Athens: 1 past producer. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cole Brothers Contractors Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
6 since 1998Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Athens in 6 storm reports between 1998 and 2026: 4 thunderstorm wind, 2 hail. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Athens | $15,000 | Several trees and power lines were blown down in and near Athens. |
| June 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Athens | $10,000 | Law enforcement reported that six trees and several wires were blown down in Athens. |
| June 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Athens | $2,500 | Trees downed along K Drive S. just east of 5 Mile Rd. in Leroy Township, approximately 5 miles northeast of Athens. |
| August 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Athens | - | Calhoun county officials reported a severe thunderstorm blew down several trees onto M-66. |
| June 2011 | Hail | Athens | - | A trained spotter in Athens reported one inch diameter hail. |
| March 2026 | Hail | Athens | - | no account filed |
Nearest settlements
The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.
| Map | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| East Leroy | 5.4 miles | 14 | |
| Pine Creek | 5.4 miles | 14 | |
| Joppa | 6.9 miles | 14 | |
| Burlington | 8.3 miles | 14 | |
| West Leroy | 9.3 miles | 14 | |
| Sonoma | 10.0 miles | 14 | |
| Stanley Corners | 10.3 miles | 14 | |
| Old Mill Gardens | 12.5 miles | 18 |
Elsewhere
Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.
| Wikipedia article on Athens | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2791349 | The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0). |
Provenance
This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 620296. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.







