Aiken Graded School

This historical marker denotes the location of the Aiken Graded School, a two-story brick elementary school for black children built in 1924-25 with funds provided by the Julius Rosenwald Foundation.  One of South Carolina’s finest Rosenwald schools, the school had ten classrooms, a library, and a 600-seat auditorium.  Aiken Graded served as the city’s only black elementary school until 1954.  It closed in 1969, was demolished four years later, and is now a public park.

KEYWORDS: AIKEN, SCHOOL, ROSENWALD