Johnson's Drugs; Magnolia Inn; Bishop's Grocery
Historic Property
Alternate Name:
Anderson & Associates
Street Address:
300 Park Ave. SE, Aiken, SC (Aiken County)
Site Number:
03_1480
Control Number:
U/03/1480
Date Surveyed:
October 28 2009
Category:
Building
Construction Date:
circa 1900
Alteration Date:
circa 2009
Historic Use:
Commerce/Trade
Current Use:
Commerce/Trade
Historic Core Shape:
Rectangular
Number of Stories:
2
Construction Method:
masonry
Exterior Walls Materials:
Brick
Foundation Materials:
Brick
National Register Determination:
contributes to eligible district;
Signficant Architectural Features:
Decorative brick cornice along all sides of building; decorative chimney caps; decorative window hoods; stone sills; transom & sidelights flank window on front elev.; Symmetry of front elev.; rear outbuilding. Prev. SHPO No. 271
Alterations:
Window replacement; storefronts replaced;
Historical Information:
Best known as the site of Johnson's Drugs, operated by one of Aiken's prominent early 20th century black businessmen, this building was constructed about 1900 on the site of the Park Avenue Hotel, "the first tourist hotel in Aiken." The hotel and its service structures occupied most of the block, until the hotel burned in about 1896._x000D_
In 1899, the entire block was vacant except a few dwellings along Fairfield Street, a two-story Negro tenement (former hotel servants quarters) and scattered sheds. Rebuilding began about 1900. In 1904 this double building housed a confectioners' shop at the corner, with an undertaker in the right (west) section. By 1909 a furniture shop was in the west section, with a grocer at the corner; in 1918 a furniture store and general store. Rooms were rented on the second level during the peak of Aiken's winter colony: some early Sanborn_x000D_
maps show the second level as "Magnolia Inn." In 1940 the building was acquired for use as Johnson's Drugstore, which moved here from Site #232.
Source of Historical Information:
90 Years in Aiken County; Sanborn maps; Lillian Redd; Aiken County.
Survey:
City of Aiken Historic Resources Survey, Aiken County, South Carolina. May 2010
Quadrangle Name:
Aiken