The history of Aiken dates to its incorporation on December 19, 1835. It was named for William Aiken, a founder of a railroad company in Charleston.
The writer Gamel Woolsey, who coined the phrase "pornography of violence" in her memoir of the Spanish Civil War, Death's Other Kingdom (also published under the title Malaga Burning), was born in Aiken in 1895.
In the late 19th century, Aiken gained fame as a wintering spot for wealthy people from the Northeast. The Aiken Winter Colony was establish by Thomas Hitchcock, Sr. and William C. Whitney. Over the years Aiken became a winter home for many famous and notable people including George H. Bostwick, James B. Eustis, Madeleine Astor, William Kissam Vanderbilt, Eugene Grace president of Bethlehem Steel, Allan Pinkerton, W. Averell Harriman and many others.
In the spring of 1931, the nation's attention was riveted on Aiken when Nicholas Longworth, Republican Speaker of the House, came down unexpectedly with pneumonia and died there on April 9, 1931. He had been visiting family friends � all long-time Republicans and fellow poker players � who had a winter home in town. Longworth was married to US President Theodore Roosevelt's daughter, Alice Roosevelt Longworth, who rushed to his side from Cincinnati, Ohio, arriving prior to his death
