The First United Methodist Church of Athens is older than Athens itself. In 1800, Rev. James Quinn, newly ordained by Bishop Richard Whatcoat (himself ordained by John Wesley) and assigned to the entire territory northwest of the Ohio, made a missionary tour up the Hocking River. He preached at Athens, then consisting of not more than five or six widely scattered log cabins. Soon after, a Hockhocking Circuit, with Rev. Quinn in charge, was created in the old Western Conference (covering Tennessee, Kentucky, and Ohio). The circuit extended from the Muskingum River to the Scioto, "a hard and laborious circuit" that required weeks to ride.
Until 1813, services in Athens were held in private homes; in that year the Methodists erected their first church building. It faced east on Congress Street. As late as 1825 this first brick edifice was one of only six public buildings and the only church in Athens.
The first church on the present College Street site was built in 1837. By 1847 Athens became a station - that is, it had a minister of its own, rather than sharing a circuit-rider. In 1908 the second church building was replaced with an even grander structure, replete with a magnificent organ.