Aiken, TX (Bell County)

Type: General Entry

Published: 1976

Updated: April 14, 2016

Aiken was a mill and farming community on the Leon River twelve miles northwest of Belton in northwest Bell County. A steam saw and flour mill was constructed on the site by Abner Kuykendall in 1857, and a settlement grew up around it, on land owned by Herman Aiken. By 1860 Aiken was a thriving community with an estimated 200 inhabitants. During the Civil War the population of 600 produced a number of goods formerly imported; the town supported a cabinet shop, a tanyard, a shoe and saddle shop, a hat factory, a Confederate distillery, and wood and blacksmith shops for the manufacture and repair of wagons. Aiken had a post office from 1868 to 1872. The town seems to have declined in the later nineteenth century; it was not shown on the state highway map of 1948. The townsite was inundated by Belton Lake in the 1950s.

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Bell County Historical Commission, Story of Bell County, Texas (2 vols., Austin: Eakin Press, 1988). Temple Junior Chamber of Commerce, Bell County History (Fort Worth, 1958). George Tyler, History of Bell County (San Antonio: Naylor, 1936).

Places:

Communities

The following, adapted from the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, is the preferred citation for this entry.

Mark Odintz, “Aiken, TX (Bell County),” Handbook of Texas Online, accessed May 28, 2022, https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/aiken-tx-bell-county.

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Original Publication Date:: 1976
Most Recent Revision Date:: April 14, 2016

Related Book(s):

Texas Almanac 2020-2021

Texas Almanac 2022–2023


Linked Data from the Texas Almanac:
Place: Aiken
Currently Exists: No
Place Type: Town
Town Fields: Has post office: No

Is Incorporated: No
Belongs to: Bell County
Coordinates: Latitude: 31.16630500°

Longitude: -97.46729900°

Adoption Status: ✅: This place is available for adoption!
Adopted by:: Your name goes here
Dedication Message:: Your message goes here

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