Biography of Maud Aiken, St. Petersburg, Pinellas County, FL

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Transcribed from:  The History of Florida:  Past & Present, The Lewis Publishing Co., 1923.

AIKEN, Mrs. MAUD, whose name is identified with and held in particular esteem for her work 
in behalf of education at Saint Petersburg, is a daughter of the late Capt. JOHN F. CHASE, 
a pioneer of Saint Petersburg, whose career is described at length on other pages.

Mrs. AIKEN was born in Augusta, Maine, where she was reared and educated.  Saint Petersburg
was a small village when she and her parents came here.  Prior to her marriage she engaged 
in teaching.  Her husband was Mr. GRANT AIKEN of Pennsylvania, an attorney by profession.  
He died in 1912.

After her husband's death Mrs. AIKEN opened what has since become famous as the AIKEN Open 
Air School.  Its first attendance consisted of three pupils.  For a year or so its enrollment 
has been on average of two hundred each term.  It is now a highly systematized school, with 
a staff of teachers, and doing the work in all the grades, beginning with the primary and 
fitting advanced pupils for entrance to any college or university.

Mrs. AIKEN is highly educated and beautifully accomplished.   She is a member of the Women's 
Club, the Carreno Club and the Episcopal Church.