The Cobbham Historic District is the area roughly bounded on the north by Prince Avenue, on the east by Pope Street, on the south by Hill Street and West Hancock Avenue, and on the west by King Avenue.
Often called Athens' first suburb, the Cobbham Historic District encompasses approximately 117 acres. The triangle formed by the intersection of Hill Street and Prince Avenue constitutes the eastern "entrance" to the district, and the intersection of Cobb Street with Prince Avenue forms the western "entrance" to the district. Buildings range in size from small frame cottages to large rambling two-story structures, which once occupied entire city blocks. A number of Victorian era frame houses between Pope Street and North Milledge Avenue exhibit various decorative features typical of the period, although several nineteenth and early-twentieth century houses of frame, brick, and stucco construction are interspersed among these older buildings. Cobb Street remains predominantly residential except for offices and clinics in rehabilitated houses toward the street's western end. North Milledge Avenue, once one of the city's most lovely residential streets, today retains few residences, and fewer still that are owner-occupied, because of commercial and office/institutional development.
Referred to in early deed records as the Village of Cobbham, the neighborhood developed on part of the original 633 acres that John Milledge donated to the state as a site for the University. Aside from farms along the Jefferson Road, now Prince Avenue, there was virtually no development in the Cobbham area until the trustees of the University surveyed and laid out lots for sale in 1833. In July 1834, John A. Cobb advertised 80 lots for sale adjoining the town on the northwest and to the north of the previously surveyed University lots. Cobb suffered financial reversals around 1840, but he sold some of his lots before the remainder were sold by sheriff's sale to satisfy his debts. Between 1834 and the Civil War, a number of substantial homes with dependencies were built along newly opened streets, and natural gas lines and cisterns for fire protection were constructed circa 1860. In its greatest period of growth between 1866 and 1930, Cobbham evolved into a rather densely populated in-town neighborhood for the well-to-do and for those of more moderate means. Later development along Prince Avenue divided Cobbham into two sections, with the northern section taking on a separate identity as the Boulevard Historic District. For the twenty years prior to 1950, the area languished. Nevertheless, escalating commercial, institutional, and multiple-residential uses had encroached on the district by the 1970s, galvanizing the Cobbham community to form an organization eventually entitled the Historic Cobbham Foundation, which assisted in local designation efforts to afford protection for the neighborhood.
Within the Cobbham area lie several sites of individual distinction, including Firehall No. 2, the Lucy Cobb Institute, and the Sledge House (see Inventory: Part I). The Joseph Lumpkin House (E. K.) is another (see Inventory: Part II). A portion of the Cobbham district, namely properties located on the northwest corner of the intersection of Pope and Hancock streets, overlaps the Reese Historic District (see Reese Historic District map).
The Cobbham Historic District is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (August 24, 1978) and has been locally designated as a Historic District (December 27, 1988).