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Aikenside received its name from the school by that name.
A new school was built on the extreme NE corner of NE 24-12-18 in 1884. Dorothy Curle was the first teacher. One day while reading a book she came across the name Aikenside. She submitted the name for the school. It was accepted and this became the name of the district.
In 1890 Aikenside had its beginning when Fred and Isaac Lewis established a store on the Southeast corner of Section 14-12-18 in which shortly thereafter a post office was set up with mail being brought from the C.P.R. on Tuesdays and Fridays by team.
That same year William Street built a blacksmith shop and a house at the samecorncr and in 1801 Nelles School was built and opened across the road on the southwest corner of Section 13-12-18. The Lewises sold the store to Bert Waggoner who operated it until 1902 when he sold it to James Mitchell who ran it until 1908 by which time the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway had been built and begun operations at which time Isaac Mitchell bought the store and moved it to Justice on the new railway.
Mr. William Street also moved his blacksmith shop to Moore Park, so Aikenside ceased to exist.
During its years of existence across the road Section eleven was a school section and" still virgin prairie so the football field and baseball diamond were laid out. The old Aikenside Thistles Football Team were known through the North Brandon and Minnedosa areas as one of the best of their era.
Tim Mitchell also built a closed rink at Aikenside where the whole area enjoyed skating and hockey.
Hilda Blake, who in 1899 killed her employer, Mary Lane, and was the only woman executed in Brandon, served as a domestic on a farm in the Aikenside district, before taking employment at the Robert Lane household in Brandon.
https://www.gov.mb.ca/rearview/blake/index.html
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