Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Aurora

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
B−History
History · Aurora

21% of Aurora’s homes were built before 1940

More historic than 49% of U.S. towns. What drives it

Below: maps from 1961 on.

0on the National Register
21%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: BaronLarf · CC BY 3.0
Quick answers

About Aurora’s history

How historic is Aurora?

B−

More historic than 49% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
History grade

What drives Aurora’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Aurora is more historic than 49% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.

B−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Aurora’s overall grade.
Founding eraAge sits out for Aurora: no founding date holds up well enough to grade on–Homes built before 194021.4% of homes (±8.4) · typical WI town 12.1% · U.S. 8.4%B+National RegisterNo listings counted · typical WI town 3.0 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 49%
NewerOlder

Wisconsin towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Wisconsin town has 3.0 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Aurora’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (28% of Wisconsin towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on two of the three inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±8.4 points).

Founding year: our sources. Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →

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.Lost villages4 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Aurora, and 1 old place names are still on the map.
★ 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.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Four other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Sacramento
1850–1851
Aurorahville
1859–1941
Sheads Island
1884–1884
Auroraville
1941–1973
18501940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Auroraville
Gone or out of use
SacramentolocaleSmick SchoolschoolSpoor Schoolschool
4cemeteries and burying grounds inside Aurora
Pine GroveSacramentoShead IslandWelsh

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

The story so far

Aurora, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Aurora yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Aurora is a town in Waushara County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 1,006 at the 2020 census. The unincorporated community of Auroraville is located in the town, and the city of Berlin is adjacent to the town.

Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 985 to 1,006 (+2%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Timeline

Aurora, 1850 to 1961

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1850Post officeThe Sacramento post office opens
  3. 1851Post officeThe Sacramento post office closes
  4. 1859Post officeThe Aurorahville post office opens
  5. 1869Born hereEdward F. Kileen is born here
  6. 1884Post officeThe Sheads Island post office opens
  7. 1884Post officeThe Sheads Island post office closes
  8. 20th century
  9. 1941Post officeThe Aurorahville post office closes
  10. 1961On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
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.
Add from your album
On the map

Aurora on the map in 1961

The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Aurora.

Aurora on the 1961 USGS map1961Auroraville sheet · 1:24,000

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.

Berlin8 historic placesA+Rushford1 historic placeAPoy SippiIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townWarrenIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townBerlin1 historic placeB−NepeuskunIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Aurora’s history

How does Aurora rank for history?

Aurora is more historic than 49% of U.S. towns. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.

How old are the homes in Aurora?

21% of Aurora’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.4 points), against a typical 12% for a Wisconsin town; the median home was built in 1974.

Memory lane

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

Town Square →
Start a conversation
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).

From Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.