Nestled on East Dougherty Street in Athens is a stately, Federal-style house. The white building currently serves as the Athens Welcome Center, and while it might seem just old to any passer-by, the house has more history than many other structures in Athens.

The house, also known as the Church-Waddel-Brumby House, is believed to be the oldest surviving residence in Athens. It was home to two presidents of the University of Georgia, and it’s estimated that the house dates back to 1820.

When the building was set to be demolished in 1967, it also became the catalyst for Athens’ historic preservation movement. Concerned citizens formed the Athens-Clarke Heritage Foundation, which subsequently saved and restored the house.

“We’re the only organized nonprofit [designated] for advocating for historic preservation in Athens,” said Amy Andrews, a volunteer and former trustee at the Heritage Foundation.

While there are other nonprofits in the town that focus on research and history, the Athens-Clarke Heritage Foundation is dedicated to the “built environment,” Andrews said.

Since its formation, the Heritage Foundation has been involved in the designation of 12 of the 17 historic districts in Athens. Some of these districts include the West Hancock Avenue Historic District, the Boulevard Historic District and the Cobbham Historic District.

The most recent area to be designated a historic area is the Milledge Circle neighborhood.

“There was a home on Milledge Circle that was... built in the ’20s, early [1910’s], and it was bought by somebody whose plan was to tear it down,” Andrews said. “It was kind of the breaking point — [the neighbors] had seen so many things happening around the neighborhood.”

The neighbors sought to make the area a historic district. They succeeded after going through the regular designation process, which includes a 90-day moratorium on construction, research on the historical relevance of the area, surveying by the city of Athens and more.

The length of time that it takes to get a district designated as historic can vary. Most often, citizens seek this designation when areas of importance start to be threatened by new developments.

“A lot of times what happens is there’s a crisis in a neighborhood,” Andrews said.

The Milledge Circle neighborhood was seemingly fighting against a practice which has recently become prevalent in the Five Points area: houses being purchased and torn down to make way for “McMansions,” as Andrews put it.

While outcomes like Milledge Circle are favorable for the surrounding community and the town from a historic point of view, the process can be long. Areas have to be researched and determined to be sufficiently historic to be saved from construction. Without this go-ahead, construction may be allowed to continue. Even after an area is deemed historic, that may not be enough to halt development.

Besides helping with the historical designation of local neighborhoods, the Heritage Foundation also has a revolving fund. The fund may, according to the Heritage’s website, be used to “preserve resources (buildings, objects, structures, sites, and districts) of architectural, historical, archeological, and/or cultural significance by promoting their rehabilitation and monitoring their preservation.”

The money must be repaid within a year, but Andrews said this is a good resource for people in Athens who may live in a historic building and can’t afford to refurbish or fix it, should a problem arise.

As it is, the Heritage Foundation must hold people to this loaned money from the fund getting repaid.

The Foundation is a nonprofit and has three staff members that it pays on a consistent basis. It also pays for programs that it hosts to increase awareness of Athens’ historic districts.

While the Foundation’s presence in the Classic City has been felt for over 50 years, it’s all too easy to remember that its help is not funded by Athens or Georgia, and could be gone in the blink of an eye.

“Of course, we do try to get sponsors and funding,” Andrews said. “We try to get donations as much as possible, but we kind of live by the skin of our teeth because it takes a lot of money to keep something like this going.”