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–Not graded
History · Aurora

16% of Aurora’s homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1951 on.

0on the National Register
16%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory

What stands out about Aurora’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Aurora are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Aurora’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Aurora’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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The story

How Aurora came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Aurora.

Read it all →

In the mid-summer of 1847, a crew working for the U.S. government surveyed a six-mile (10 km) square which approximates the current boundaries of Aurora. In December 1854, another crew marked all the section corners in the township, walking through the woods and swamps, measuring them with a chain and a compass. When done, the deputy surveyor filed this general description:

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
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On the map

Aurora on the map, 1951 to 1973

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Aurora. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Aurora on the 1951 USGS mapAurora on the 1973 USGS map1951Gilman sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Aurora.

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

PershingIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townFordIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townGilmanIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townColburnIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Aurora’s history

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
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Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikipedia and U.S. Geological Survey historical maps. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.