The village was named after the ancient city of Athens, capital of Greece. Athens became the parish seat of Claiborne Parish in 1846, but in 1848 fire destroyed the courthouse and all the records in it. Soon thereafter the Claiborne Parish Police Jury decided to move the parish seat to its present location in Homer. Athens has been home to a Pilgrim's Pridepoultry hatchery for many years. Their location in Athens was designated for closure early in 2009, along with other company businesses in nearby Arcadia in Bienville Parish, Choudrant in Lincoln Parish, and Farmerville in Union Parish, where the company maintained a processing and protein conversion plant. Several weeks later, however, Pilgrim's Pride accepted an $80 million offer from Foster Farms of California to purchase the operations. In addition to the 1,300 direct jobs, mostly in Farmerville, the purchase spares the small farms of some three hundred independent growers. Foster Farms put up 40 million dollars and the State of Louisiana a matching $40 million. Foster Farms will further invest $10 million in capital improvements at the Farmerville plant, to be matched by the state, in an agreement announced by GovernorBobby Jindal.
As of the census of 2000, there were 262 people, 112 households, and 73 families residing in the village. The population density was 119.2 inhabitants per square mile. There were 137 housing units at an average density of 62.3 per square mile. The racial makeup of the village was 72.52% White, 24.05% African American, 2.29% Native American, 0.38% Pacific Islander, and 0.76% from two or more races. There were 112 households out of which 34.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 42.9% were married couplesliving together, 16.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.8% were non-families. 30.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 21.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.34 and the average family size was 2.93. In the village, the population was spread out with 28.6% under the age of 18, 5.7% from 18 to 24, 27.1% from 25 to 44, 19.8% from 45 to 64, and 18.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females, there were 83.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 78.1 males. The median income for a household in the village was $18,750, and the median income for a family was $26,750. Males had a median income of $23,393 versus $22,250 for females. The per capita income for the village was $13,033. About 7.0% of families and 14.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 13.6% of those under the age of eighteen and 20.0% of those sixty five or over.
The Mt. Olive Christian School, pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade, operates in the former Athens High School building, constructed in 1930, with the last graduating class there in 1969.
Notable people
Jessie Johnson Couch, wife of utilities, railroad, and radio magnate Harvey Couch, was an Athens native.
