ABOUT US

Welcome to the DownTownAthensAlabama.com website. My name is Mark Griggs. The creation of this website has been years in the making. I was born and raised here in Athens Alabama and still live in Athens today. I remember as a child coming up to the downtown square and shopping with my parents. I remember going to many of the clothing stores here on the square to purchase cloths. I also got my first hair cut, on the square, at Carwile's Barber Shop and still get my hair cut there now. I remember many times going into Limestone Drug store to get ice cream or going to Dub's Burger. Then in 1989 my mom started working at U.G. White Hardware and in 1991 my brother started working at Gray & Holt Dry Goods. Both of these stores are two of the oldest stores on the square in Athens. With both my mom and brother working on the square, this gave me even more time to spend on the square during my teenage years. Then during the late 90's, while I was in college, I worked part time at both U.G. White Hardware and Gray & Holt Dry Goods. After living in Florida for 4 years, I moved back to Athens and started working full time at U.G. White Hardware. Then in 2008 my family purchased the Gray & Holt Dry Good store. I now work there with my family. So as you can see, I have lived a lot of my life on the downtown square. In just my short life, I have noticed many changes to the square. Many of these changes have been to the downside, like stores closing or moving off the downtown square. But the last couple of years have seen a major shift to up side of the downtown square. There are new stores opening, new restaurants opening, and many events taking place on the downtown square.

The purpose of this website is to display the beautiful historical downtown square here in Athens through images. The site has many image galleries about different sections of the downtown square. There is even a section for historical images of the downtown square. If you have never been to the downtown square, I hope this site will show you what you are missing. You will not find this type of atmosphere in any mall. The downtown square has many active stores and restaurants, just click on the "Shop Downtown" button in the top menu for more information about all of the stores and restaurants. Also, check out the "Events Downtown" button for information about all of the events that are taking place on the downtown square.

This website is maintained by my brother Bob Griggs and myself (Mark Griggs). I hope you enjoy this site and tell others about it. So take a look around and come back often. This site will be updated with new images, events, and information about downtown Athens. You can also sign up for our newsletter. The newsletter will help you keep up to date with what is happening at DowntownAthensAlabama.com. Again, thank you for taking a look around this website.

Thank You,
Mark Griggs