Aiken's Jewish Merchants

Front: Sustained Jewish settlement in Aiken dates to the 1890s. By 1920, a concentration of Jewish-owned businesses had opened along this section of Laurens Street and other streets nearby. The first known Jewish merchant in Aiken was Harris L. Polier, a Russian immigrant who opened a department store south of here in 1888. Other prominent merchant families later in this area included the Suraskys, Poliakoffs, Wolfs, Efrons, and Rudnicks. Reverse: As Aiken’s Jewish population grew with the rest of the city, merchants and their families played important roles in their community and in broader civic life. Several helped found Aiken’s first Jewish cemetery (1913) and incorporate its first Jewish congregation (1921). By the 1950s, Aiken had more than twenty Jewish-owned businesses. This site (116-120 Laurens St.) was the location of three stores owned by the Surasky family.