The Reese Street Historic District is the area bounded on the south by Broad Street, on the west by Harris Street, on the north by Meigs Street, and on the east by Finley Street.

Approximately three blocks west of Athens' central business district, this area is comprised primarily of modest, late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century residences, a church, a school, and several small commercial structures associated with the black community. Small rectangular lots that divide the rolling terrain contain houses with similar setbacks relatively close to the street. Vernacular one-story wood-framed buildings dominate this area, which also includes several Shotgun and Bungalow forms and a few two-story buildings. Common exterior architectural features include a central door, double pen or two front doors, recessed porches, dormer windows, and front gables. Other stylistic details consist of Greek Revival doors with transoms and sidelights, Neoclassical porches, Queen Anne fishscale shingles, and Victorian porch posts and balustrades. The vernacular church with Gothic detailing possesses a modified cross plan, a steeply sloped and gabled roof, a two-and-a-half-story tower with steeple, and lancet arched windows. Located on the northeast and southwest corners of Pope and Hancock streets, commercial structures include a one-story brick building with a stepped gable on the front and rear elevations. Vacant lots, associated with the Knox Institute and J. T. Heard University, remain on the southwest corner of Reese and North Pope streets.

Development of the Reese area into one of Athens' primary black residential areas dates from the 1860s. After the Civil War the black population in Athens doubled, and by 1900 it had nearly doubled again. In the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, segregated residential neighborhoods developed. By the turn of the century, most blacks were building or renting small houses on narrow lots in several expanding self-contained settlements in Athens. These settlements were often located on under-utilized, hard-to-build-on land. Reese Street, with its hilly terrain, was one of the settlements that documents such residential patterns and, to a lesser extent, commercial and institutional development of the black community. A broad spectrum of Athens's black citizens--from educators, doctors, and lawyers to unskilled laborers--lived in this district. The district also developed into an important education center for blacks, with facilities run by the Knox School, J. Thomas Heard University, and Athens High and Industrial School.

The Athens High and Industrial School is a property of individual recognition within the Reese Street Historic District (see Inventory: Part I). Other sites of distinction include the Hayes House, Hill's First Baptist Church, and the Hiram House (see Inventory: Part II). A portion of the Reese district, properties located on the northwest corner of the intersection of Pope and Hancock streets, overlaps the Cobbham Historic District (see Reese District map).

The Reese Street Historic District is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (November 10, 1987).