Aurora’s post office opened in 1875, and 44% of its homes were built before 1940
3 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 11 buildings.
How Aurora began
When was Aurora founded?
The Aurora post office opened in 1875, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, German Settlement (1820) and Carmel (1880), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
3 listings protect 13 historic buildings
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
Architectural styles listings
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Lost post offices, old corners and burying grounds
Aurora’s post office has been open since 1875. Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Aurora’s history
What year was Aurora founded?
The Aurora post office opened in 1875, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
What is on the National Register in Aurora?
Three places: the Red Horse Tavern (listed 1973), the Gaymont (1992) and the Brookside Historic District (2013).
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 the National Register of Historic Places (3), 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.