MLK marker on Laurens moves ahead

Aiken Design Review members are recommending that City Council members approve two historic markers - one designating the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Highway and the other marking the place where the historic Highland Park Hotel once stood.

The board's recommendation was unanimous for Aiken NAACP's request for a 2-foot-wide by 1-foot-and-a-half-inch black granite marker with a 3-foot-wide by 4-inch-tall base. The memorial would sit in the median at the corner of Laurens Street and Hampton Avenue.

"I would just like to say that this is a great thing for our City," said Velice Cummings, a member of the board. "I'm honored that our City would want to do something for Dr. King."

Coleen Reed, who is a board member of Pine Lawn Cemetery and was instrumental in the restoration of the cemetery, addressed the board before the vote was made and asked that they recommend approval to City Council. "This marker was very tastefully done and it is long overdue," she said. "This will sort of pave the way for the African-American corridor in the City of Aiken."

The Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Highway is on Highway 19 and stretches across Laurens Street, parts of Richland Avenue and Chesterfield Street and Whiskey Road. Aiken NAACP plans to have the marker installed on Jan. 17

"The memorial is very tasteful and the location is excellent, I hope City Council will approve it," said Lucy Knowles, a member of the Aiken Design Review Board.

The DRB also unanimously recommended approval for a historic marker for the Highland Park Hotel. The marker will be placed at the corner of Highland Park Drive and Highland Park Terrace. The hotel opened in 1870 and was built to accommodate 350 guests.

Allen Riddick, president of the Aiken County Historical Society, said when the hotel opened, it was the largest in Aiken. The Highland Park Hotel later burned down in 1898 and was rebuilt in 1915. The building was demolished in 1940.

The marker will be the standard historic sign used in South Carolina to designate historic sites, according to Riddick. He said it will be unveiled at the next meeting for the Aiken County Historical Society on Feb. 22.