The Highland Park Hotel, Aiken’s first grand hotel, was situated on the western end of Park Avenue on the plateau overlooking what is now the Aiken Golf Club. It was constructed in 1869 – 1870. In 1874 its capacity was doubled to 300 guests with an addition on the left side.
The hotel was constructed at a time when Aiken was considered a health resort because of its pine-scented air, mild climate, and sandy soil. Over the years the hotel advertised large rooms with sunny exposure, marble-top walnut furniture, and rooms lit with rosin gas and warmed with open fireplaces. All rooms had electric bells. Hot and cold baths were available on each floor, and the halls and dining room were heated with steam. The hotel also boasted a men’s billiard room, a ladies’ billiard room, and a bowling alley. There was even a hydraulic passenger elevator.
The Highland Park Hotel grounds consisted of 400 acres of pine forest featuring walking and riding trails and drives, with a glass-enclosed pavilion in the middle of the acreage. There were also tennis and croquet courts and stables. This was a first-class hotel and it was open each year from November to the beginning of June.
In 1898 a fire destroyed the hotel; fortunately no one died in the blaze. In 1912 a group of Aiken businessmen formed the Real Estate and Fidelity Company to develop a resort hotel for winter guests at the same location. Several of the investors in the new Highland Park Hotel issued stock to build a golf course as an amenity to the hotel. The golf course lives on today as the Aiken Golf Club. The hotel struggled during the Depression, and there was another fire in 1940. The hotel was torn down shortly thereafter, but the hotel’s laundry facility is now the club house for the Aiken Golf Club.
At the corner of Highland Park Terrace and Highland Park Drive you will find an official State of South Carolina marker about the hotel; it was erected by the Aiken County Historical Society in 2009.
