in 1891, william henry harris asked the atlantic coast line railroad to build a railroad depot on a portion of his farm in order to create a village. a parcel of land was divided into residential lots surrounding the depot in "harristown". harris owned every other lot in harristown. within the next several years, lots were sold and homes were built. businesses began to open up to support the new residents, and on february 3, 1891, people in the town created a local government as "ayden." within a few years, the carolina christian college and the free will baptist seminary were established. by 1919, ayden had full-time electricity supplied by the ayden municipal light plant. in 1922, the mutual building and loan association of ayden was organized to help families obtain mortgages (or loan) to build homes in ayden.