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Wilcox's (Willcox Inn; Willcox Hotel) At the heart of Aiken’s Winter Colony activities was Willcox’s, an internationally known inn operated from 1898 to 1957 by members of the Willcox family. Reflecting the influence of both Second Empire and Colonial Revival styles, Willcox’s, which was established in 1898 by Frederick Sugden Willcox, assumed its present form in 1928 when the last of several additions was made to the hostelry. Set on a masonry foundation, the three-story weatherboarded hotel has a partial basement and standing seam metal roof. The plan of the building is irregular in shape, consisting of a central block with asymmetrical wings. Although unified by design, the two wings and core of the hotel were built at different times during the Willcox’s fifty-nine years of operation. After acquiring the property in 1898, Frederick Willcox and his family moved into a one and one-half story vernacular Victorian cottage at the Corner of Colleton Ave. and Chesterfield Street. Around 1900, the home was remodeled, linking it to a newly constructed three-story building by a porte cochere and one-story lobby. A porch that extended down the façade and right elevation was enclosed with windows to serve as the inn’s dining room. Joseph Eways, who bought the hotel at a 1957 auction, tore down the modified house and old lobby around 1970. The ca. 1900 rectangular building built to house winter guests still stands and is now the east wing of the hotel complex. Of Aiken’s once famous resort hostelries, only Willcox’s is still standing. Listed in the National Register March 19, 1982.
Warrenville Elementary School Warrenville Elementary School, originally known as Warrenville Graded School, is an excellent example of the Classical Revival style of school architecture that flourished as a direct result of expanded state support for education in the first quarter of the 20th century. It also represents a key component of the paternalistic social and economic system that characterized textile mill villages in piedmont South Carolina from 1900-1945. From its construction in 1925, Warrenville school was in continuous use until 1992 as an educational institution for mill village children. The school is a large, rectangular, two-story brick building located at the west end of the Warrenville mill village. In 1954, two one-story wings were added to the rear (south) and west sides of the building, creating its present C-shaped plan. The school’s original brick and stone façade features baroque massing and is encircled by a full entablature and projecting cornice with a parapet above the roofline. The main façade is defined by slightly projecting central and end pavilions. The entablature here contains a frieze of four stone rondelles under a pediment featuring a bullseye window with cut keystones. The school is one of seven schools in Aiken County designed by W.W. Simmons & Son, an obscure architecture firm working out of Augusta, Georgia during the 1920s and active until 1951. Listed in the National Register May 22, 2002.
Court Tennis Building The Aiken Club, an exclusive men’s club, was incorporated in 1898 and constructed its court tennis building about 1902. Court tennis, played on an indoor court utilizing the walls and ceiling, is an elite sport originated in France over 700 years ago. The Court Tennis Building is one of only nine courts in the United States. Constructed ca. 1902 and remodeled ca. 1936, it is a two-story rectangular brick building with a hip-on-hip roof. The Newberry Street elevation (northwest elevation) features seven bays delineated by buttressed wall pilasters. All bays have double eight-over-eight windows in the upper portion. The southeast and southwest elevations feature one-story frame, shingled wings. The wing on the southeast connects the Court Tennis Building to the Aiken Club Room, a small one-story, frame, gable roofed cottage that was moved to its present location ca. 1928. The Aiken Club Room was originally part of the Aiken Club building which, along with stables, a squash court, servant’s quarters and the tennis court made up the Aiken Club complex. Early members of the Aiken Club included Thomas Hitchcock and William C. Whitney. Listed in the National Register November 27, 1984.
Immanuel School The Immanuel School, built in 1889-1890, is significant for its association with the parochial education of black children in Aiken and surrounding South Carolina counties from 1890 until it closed in 1932, and as a particularly rare, sophisticated, and intact example of Late Victorian vernacular school architecture as built for African-American schoolchildren in the late nineteenth century South. Immanuel School is particularly significant as a privately-funded African-American school. The school was founded shortly after the end of Reconstruction by Reverend William R. Coles, who came to Aiken under the authority of the Presbyterian Board of Missions for Freedmen. Peak enrollment reached 300 in 1906 with 50 of the students being boarders. The curriculum included academic, normal, and industrial instructions, as well as the arts and music. In 1914, it was called the Andrew Robertson School until it closed during the Depression in 1932. The National Missions Board of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. was forced to discontinue financial support of many day schools. The Immanuel School was one of 35 black parochial schools closed in the South. During the next decade the school was transformed into the Lincoln Theatre, a theatre for Aiken’s black community during segregation. In 1942 the Redemptionist Fathers of South Carolina purchased the property and opened the St. Gerard’s Catholic School for African-American children. This privately funded school closed in 1964. During the next forty years, the building housed an auto parts store, a furniture store, and a Salvation Army Thrift Store. Aiken Corporation purchased the property in 2004 with plans to create a new Center for African American History, Art and Culture. Listed in the National Register June 3, 2009.
U.S. Court House The Charles E. Simons, Jr. Federal Court House in Aiken is significant for its association with the federal construction programs created to relieve the economic crisis of the Depression Era. The building is an excellent example of a Georgian Revival building, which was not only a popular style for government buildings in smaller towns in the 1920s and 1930s, but also reflected a resurgent national interest in using elements from the Colonial Period as an inspiration for current designs in architecture. The Court House is a two-story brick building with a half basement designed by Columbia architects Lafaye and Lafaye. Constructed in 1935, the steel-framed building has housed the federal courts and federal agencies since its completion. It is among the most notable buildings constructed in Aiken in the 1930s, and retains much of its historic integrity and design character. The building also contains a ca. 1938 mural titled “Justice as Protector and Avenger” commissioned under the Section of Painting and Sculpture of the U.S. Treasury Department that reflects a growing movement of Social Realism found in American art during the Depression Era. The mural, by Stefan Hirsch, is located behind the judge’s bench and depicts a lady justice as a simply clothed figure in red, white, and blue, alternately protecting the oppressed while prosecuting the evil elements in society. Listed in the National Register December 10, 2003.
Coker Spring Coker Spring is a fresh water spring. Archeological remains found near this property suggest that this was probably a water supply for prehistoric Indians. The spring later served as the source of drinking water for the early settlers of Aiken (ca. 1830-1890). The spring is covered by a springhouse, which is constructed of brick, covered with stucco. The front façade features a pedimented entranceway with a wide entablature. Stuccoed brick retaining walls extend along the left and right sides of the springhouse. The first recorded owner of Coker Spring was Ephraim Franklin who obtained the spring as part of a 285-acre land grant in 1787. Apparently the spring then changed hands several times. The spring gained prominence as a regular stop on the stagecoach route from Abbeville to Charleston, and also as the major source of drinking water for the town of Aiken which had been chartered in 1835. Eventually, however, the spring fell into ruin. Listed in the National Register January 18, 1978.
Aiken Training Track The Aiken Training Track, constructed in 1941 by Ira Coward for Fred Post, was established for training flat racers. Horse owners, as well as others interested in Aiken’s future as a horse training center, subscribed to stock in the new track. At the time of its construction, the track, which features banked turns and cushioned straightaways, was considered one of the finest tracks in the country for training flat racers. The construction of the Track secured Aiken’s future as a horse training center. The Track complex consists of a one-mile, flat, oval track, and seven contributing buildings. The buildings, built in the early 1940s, include a barn with stables, a separate stable building, a walking shed, a veterinarian’s office, an office building, a cottage, and a grandstand. There are also new stables on the property. Listed in the National Register May 9, 1985.
Zubly Cemetery Established ca. 1790 by the Swiss settlers of New Windsor Township, the Zubly Cemetery is significant as an example of a typical early to mid-nineteenth century cemetery illustrating vernacular burial customs of the period. It is the most important extant historic resource associated with the New Windsor community, a significant late-eighteenth to early-nineteenth century settlement and frontier outpost in the South Carolina backcountry. Settled in 1737 by prominent families from Appenzell and Toggenburg, Switzerland, New Windsor became an outpost for Indian traders. By 1750, New Windsor’s importance as a trading center was eclipsed by the neighboring city of Augusta, just across the Savannah River in Georgia, and the township declined further still after the Revolution. The Zubly Cemetery’s earliest marked graves date from this phase of New Windsor’s history. There are fifty-eight marked graves. The oldest marked grave is dated 1798 and the most recent burial is from 1983. Gravestones, most of them marble, vary from table-top tombs and other flat markers to upright tablets and obelisks. The cemetery is enclosed by a brick wall and an iron gate allows access. Listed in the National Register January 28, 2002.
Aiken Mile Track The Aiken Mile Track was constructed ca. 1936 by Ira Coward for Fred Post, Dunbar Bostwick, and Roland Harriman on the Hassler Polo Fields. The track was designed to train and race trotters. Around 1937, a turf track in the infield (middle track) was built for flat racing and hurdle racing. In 1938 another strip of turf was added for steeplechasing (center track) making the Mile Track capable of handling a diversified training and racing program. The Aiken Mile Track was the home of the Imperial Cup hurdle race first run in 1938. This property has been identified as being associated with the Aiken Winter Colony. The Aiken Mile Track is of exceptional importance to the Winter Colony theme because its construction between 1936 and 1938 added a new dimension to equestrian activity in Aiken. It was also instrumental in Aiken’s continuing success as a horse-training center during the Depression and during and after World War II. The Aiken Mile Track consists of three concentric tracks and eight contributing buildings. The center one-half mile track is used for training, the middle seven-eighths mile track is used for jogging and the outer mile track is used for training and racing. The entire track system is surrounded by a rail fence. Among the buildings included in the complex are a brick stable building, three frame stables, two grooms’ cottages, a barn, and a grandstand. Also included in the complex are four modern barns and a blacksmith shop. Listed in the National Register May 9, 1985.
Wilcox's

(Willcox Inn; Willcox Hotel) At the heart of Aiken’s Winter Colony activities was Willcox’s, an internationally known inn operated from 1898 to 1957 by members of the Willcox family. Reflecting the influence of both Second Empire and Colonial Revival styles, Willcox’s, which was established in 1898 by Frederick Sugden Willcox, assumed its present form in 1928 when the last of several additions was made to the hostelry. Set on a masonry foundation, the three-story weatherboarded hotel has a partial basement and standing seam metal roof. The plan of the building is irregular in shape, consisting of a central block with asymmetrical wings. Although unified by design, the two wings and core of the hotel were built at different times during the Willcox’s fifty-nine years of operation. After acquiring the property in 1898, Frederick Willcox and his family moved into a one and one-half story vernacular Victorian cottage at the Corner of Colleton Ave. and Chesterfield Street. Around 1900, the home was remodeled, linking it to a newly constructed three-story building by a porte cochere and one-story lobby. A porch that extended down the façade and right elevation was enclosed with windows to serve as the inn’s dining room. Joseph Eways, who bought the hotel at a 1957 auction, tore down the modified house and old lobby around 1970. The ca. 1900 rectangular building built to house winter guests still stands and is now the east wing of the hotel complex. Of Aiken’s once famous resort hostelries, only Willcox’s is still standing. Listed in the National Register March 19, 1982.
Wilcox's (Willcox Inn; Willcox Hotel) At the heart of Aiken’s Winter Colony activities was Willcox’s, an internationally known inn operated from 1898 to 1957 by members of the Willcox family. Reflecting the influence of both Second Empire and Colonial Revival styles, Willcox’s, which was established in 1898 by Frederick Sugden Willcox, assumed its present form in 1928 when the last of several additions was made to the hostelry. Set on a masonry foundation, the three-story weatherboarded hotel has a partial basement and standing seam metal roof. The plan of the building is irregular in shape, consisting of a central block with asymmetrical wings. Although unified by design, the two wings and core of the hotel were built at different times during the Willcox’s fifty-nine years of operation. After acquiring the property in 1898, Frederick Willcox and his family moved into a one and one-half story vernacular Victorian cottage at the Corner of Colleton Ave. and Chesterfield Street. Around 1900, the home was remodeled, linking it to a newly constructed three-story building by a porte cochere and one-story lobby. A porch that extended down the façade and right elevation was enclosed with windows to serve as the inn’s dining room. Joseph Eways, who bought the hotel at a 1957 auction, tore down the modified house and old lobby around 1970. The ca. 1900 rectangular building built to house winter guests still stands and is now the east wing of the hotel complex. Of Aiken’s once famous resort hostelries, only Willcox’s is still standing. Listed in the National Register March 19, 1982.
Wilcox's

(Willcox Inn; Willcox Hotel) At the heart of Aiken’s Winter Colony activities was Willcox’s, an internationally known inn operated from 1898 to 1957 by members of the Willcox family. Reflecting the influence of both Second Empire and Colonial Revival styles, Willcox’s, which was established in 1898 by Frederick Sugden Willcox, assumed its present form in 1928 when the last of several additions was made to the hostelry. Set on a masonry foundation, the three-story weatherboarded hotel has a partial basement and standing seam metal roof. The plan of the building is irregular in shape, consisting of a central block with asymmetrical wings. Although unified by design, the two wings and core of the hotel were built at different times during the Willcox’s fifty-nine years of operation. After acquiring the property in 1898, Frederick Willcox and his family moved into a one and one-half story vernacular Victorian cottage at the Corner of Colleton Ave. and Chesterfield Street. Around 1900, the home was remodeled, linking it to a newly constructed three-story building by a porte cochere and one-story lobby. A porch that extended down the façade and right elevation was enclosed with windows to serve as the inn’s dining room. Joseph Eways, who bought the hotel at a 1957 auction, tore down the modified house and old lobby around 1970. The ca. 1900 rectangular building built to house winter guests still stands and is now the east wing of the hotel complex. Of Aiken’s once famous resort hostelries, only Willcox’s is still standing. Listed in the National Register March 19, 1982.
See photo in original gallery.
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