AIKEN, a city of South Carolina, U.S.A., 17 m. E.N.E. of Augusta, Ga., on the highest point between Augusta and Charles ton, 565 ft. above sea-level; the county seat of Aiken county. It is on Federal highways I and 78 and the Southern railway, and is connected with Augusta by an electric line. The resident popu lation is small (4,103 in 192o, 2,286 negroes; 1930, 6,033) but it is greatly increased by visitors during the winter, spring and autumn, for Aiken is a health and pleasure resort of high repute. The climate is unusually dry and equable, and the air is filled with fragrance from the forests of yellow Southern pine. There are many luxurious private estates and country clubs, besides hotels and apartments. Fox-hunting, pigeon-shooting, riding, polo, tennis and golf are popular sports. With its seven polo fields, Aiken has been adopted as the winter training-ground for this game.
Aiken was settled early in the Igth century and was incorporated in 1835. It was on the line of one of the earliest railways, and was named after the first president of that road, William Aiken (1806 87) , who was governor of the State