Editing Aiken, South Carolina (section)

==History==
[[File:Old-Aiken-PO.jpg|thumb|The [[Old Aiken Post Office]] in downtown Aiken]]
The municipality of Aiken was incorporated on December 19, 1835. The community formed around the terminus of the [[South Carolina Canal and Railroad Company]], a rail line from Charleston to the Savannah River, and was named for [[William Aiken]], the railroad's first president.

During [[Sherman's March to the Sea]] in the [[American Civil War]] [[William Tecumseh Sherman|Sherman]] ordered [[Hugh Judson Kilpatrick]] and the [[Cavalry Corps (Union Army)|cavalry corps]] he commanded to march through South Carolina. By February 5, they had reached Aiken County. While in Aiken County Kilpatrick fought [[Joseph Wheeler]] and his cavalry corps. This battle, called the [[Battle of Aiken]], was a Confederate victory.<ref>"Battle of Aiken". ''{{usurped|[https://web.archive.org/web/20041021200401/http://www.battleofaiken.org/history.htm battleofaiken.org]}}''. Retrieved 2 October 2017.</ref><ref>"[https://www.aikenregional.com/about-us/aiken-history/the-yellow-house-and-the-battle-of-aiken The Yellow House and the Battle of Aiken]". ''[[Aiken Regional Medical Center]]s''. 2017-02-12. Retrieved 2020-09-23.</ref><ref>"[https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=10061 Battle of Aiken Historical Marker]". ''www.hmdb.org''. Retrieved 2020-09-23.</ref>

Originally it was in the Edgefield District. With population increases, in 1871 Aiken County was organized, made up of parts of neighboring counties. Among its founding commissioners were three African-American legislators: [[Prince Rivers]]; [[Samuel J. Lee]], speaker of the [[South Carolina General Assembly|state House]] and the first black man admitted to the [[South Carolina Bar]]; and [[Charles D. Hayne]], a [[free people of color|free man of color]] from one of Charleston's elite families.<ref name="nesbitt">[http://augustachronicle.com/stories/021604/met_321095.shtml Jim Nesbitt, "County, once booming, now shadows town it used to rival"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081120172515/http://www.augustachronicle.com/stories/021604/met_321095.shtml |date=2008-11-20 }}, ''Augusta Chronicle'', 16 February 2004</ref>

Aiken was a [[planned town]], and many of the streets in the historic district are named for other cities and counties in South Carolina, including Abbeville, Barnwell, Beaufort, Chesterfield, Colleton, Columbia, Dillon, Edgefield, Edisto, Fairfield, Florence, Greenville, Hampton, Horry, Jasper, Kershaw, Lancaster, Laurens, Marion, Marlboro, McCormick, Newberry, Orangeburg, Pendleton, Pickens, Richland, Sumter, Union, Williamsburg and York.

Between 1890 and the 1920s, many [[American Jews|Jewish]] immigrants settled in Aiken. The Jewish immigrants were from [[Eastern Europe]], including [[History of the Jews in Russia|Russia]] and [[History of the Jews in Poland|Poland]]. Many were from [[Knyszyn]], Poland. In 1905, a group of Russian-Jewish [[Jewish left|socialists]] from [[History of the Jews in New York|New York]] founded a farming colony in Aiken County that was known as "[[Happyville, South Carolina|Happyville]]". Adath (Adas) Yeshurun (Congregation of Israel) Synagogue was chartered in Aiken in 1921 and the cornerstone was laid in 1925. An historical marker was added to the synagogue in 2014, sponsored by the Jewish Historical Society of South Carolina.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://americanjewisharchives.org/publications/journal/PDF/1978_30_01_00_shankman.pdf |title=Happyville, the Forgotten Colony |publisher=American Jewish Archives |access-date=2020-02-02}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://archives.library.cofc.edu/inventories/mss1042.html |title=Aiken Jewish community collection |publisher=[[College of Charleston]] |access-date=2020-02-02}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://jhssc.org/2015/05/04/adath-yeshurun-historical-marker-dedication/ |title=Adath Yeshurun Historical Marker Dedication |publisher=Jewish Historical Society of South Carolina |access-date=2020-02-02 |archive-date=February 2, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200202085152/http://jhssc.org/2015/05/04/adath-yeshurun-historical-marker-dedication/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://jhssc.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Aiken1.pdf |title=Strangers in Paradise: A Century of Jewish Settlement in Aiken, SC |publisher=Jewish Historical Society of South Carolina |access-date=2020-02-02}}</ref> In 1903, the Jewish-American peddler [[Abraham Surasky]] was the victim of an [[antisemitism in the United States|antisemitic]] murder that occurred near Aiken.<ref name="The Old World Meets the New">{{cite web|url=https://jhssc.org/suraskys-and-poliers-the-old-world-meets-the-new/ |title=Suraskys and Poliers: The Old World Meets the New |publisher=Jewish Historical Society of South Carolina |access-date=2022-05-20}}</ref>

Aiken was the subject of a series of broadcasts by [[Orson Welles]] in July and August 1946 regarding the blinding and severe beating of Sergeant [[Isaac Woodard]], a black [[World War II]] veteran.

===Savannah River Plant===
The [[United States Atomic Energy Commission]]'s selection of a site near Aiken for a plant to produce fuel for thermonuclear weapons was announced on November 30, 1950. Residences and businesses at [[Ellenton, South Carolina]], were bought for use for the plant site. Residents were moved to New Ellenton, which was constructed about eight miles north, or to neighboring towns.

The site was named the Savannah River Plant, and renamed the [[Savannah River Site]] in 1989. The facility contains five production reactors, fuel fabrication facilities, a research laboratory, heavy water production facilities, two fuel reprocessing facilities, and tritium recovery facilities.