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Aurora
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City
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  .jpg)      From top, left to right: An aerial view of the downtown area, The Santori Branch of the Aurora Public Library, the Paramount Theater, Leland Tower on Stolp Island, The Galena Hotel, The Sunken Gardens in Phillip’s Park, Millennium Plaza, and East Aurora High School.
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| Nickname:
City of Lights
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| Motto:
A City Second to None
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Location of Aurora in DuPage and Kane Counties, Illinois.
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Location of Illinois in the United States
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| Coordinates: 41°45′50″N 88°17′24″W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Illinois |
| Counties | DuPage, Kane, Kendall, Will |
| Townships | Aurora (Kane), Batavia (Kane), Sugar Grove (Kane), Naperville (DuPage), Winfield (DuPage), Oswego (Kendall), Wheatland (Will) |
| Settled | 1834 |
| Incorporated (village) | 1845 |
| Incorporated (city) | 1857 |
| Founded by | Harold E. Styles |
| Government | |
| • Type | Mayor–council |
| • Mayor | Richard Irvin (R)[1] |
| Area | |
| • Total | 45.91 sq mi (118.91 km2) |
| • Land | 44.97 sq mi (116.47 km2) |
| • Water | 0.94 sq mi (2.45 km2) |
| Elevation | 719 ft (219 m) |
| Population
(2020)
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| • Total | 180,542 |
| • Rank | US: 144th |
| • Density | 4,014.81/sq mi (1,550.13/km2) |
| Time zone | UTC−6 (CST) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC−5 (CDT) |
| ZIP Codes |
60502–60507, 60568, 60569, 60572, 60598
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| Area codes | 630, 331 |
| FIPS code | 17-03012 |
| GNIS feature ID | 2394031[3] |
| Demonym | Auroran |
| Logo |  |
| Wikimedia Commons | Aurora, Illinois |
| Website | www |
Aurora is a city in the Chicago metropolitan area. Located primarily in DuPage and Kane Counties, it is the 2nd most populous city in Illinois, after Chicago,[4] and the 144th most populous city in the United States.[5] The population was 197,899 at the 2010 census, and was 180,542 at the 2020 census.[6]
Founded within Kane County, Aurora’s city limits have expanded into DuPage, Kendall, and Will counties. Once a mid-sized manufacturing city, Aurora has grown since the 1960s. From 2000 to 2009, the U.S. Census Bureau ranked the city as the 46th-fastest-growing city with a population of over 100,000.[7]
In 1908, Aurora adopted the nickname “City of Lights”, because in 1881 it was one of the first cities in the United States to implement an all-electric street lighting system.[8] Aurora’s historic downtown is located on the Fox River, and centered on Stolp Island. The city is divided into three regions, the West Side, on the west side of the Fox River, the East Side, between the eastern bank of the Fox River and the Kane/DuPage County line, and the Far East Side/Fox Valley, which is from the County Line to the city’s eastern border with Naperville.
The Aurora area has some significant architecture, including structures by Frank Lloyd Wright, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Bruce Goff and George Grant Elmslie. Aurora is also home to over 50 Sears Catalog Homes and seven Lustron all-steel homes. The Hollywood Casino Aurora, a dockside gaming facility with 53,000 square feet (4,900 m2) and 1,200 gaming positions, is located along the river in downtown Aurora.
History
Before European settlers arrived, there was a Native American village in what is today downtown Aurora, on the banks of the Fox River. In 1834, following the Black Hawk War, the McCarty brothers settled on both sides of the river, but subsequently sold their land on the west side to the Lake brothers, who opened a mill. The McCartys lived on and operated a mill on the east side.[9] Aurora was established with the building of a post office in 1837.
Aurora began as two villages: East Aurora, incorporated in 1845[10] on the east side of the river, and West Aurora, formally organized on the west side of the river in 1854.[10] In 1857, the two towns joined, incorporating as the city of Aurora.[11] Representatives could not agree which side of the river should house the public buildings, so most of them were built on or around Stolp Island in the middle of the river.
As the city grew, it attracted numerous factories and jobs. In 1849, after failing to attract the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad building west from Chicago, the Aurora Branch Railroad was chartered to build a connection from Aurora to the G&CU at a place called Turner Junction, now West Chicago. Additional lines were built, including a direct line to Chicago, and in 1855 the company was reorganized into the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad.[12][13] The CB&Q located its roundhouse and locomotive shop in Aurora, becoming the town’s largest employer until the 1960s. Restructuring in the railroad industry resulted in a loss of jobs as passenger traffic dropped and the number of railroads decreased. The Burlington Railroad ran regularly scheduled passenger trains to Chicago.[14] Other railroads built lines to Aurora, including the Chicago & Northwestern Railway to Geneva,[15] the Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway to Joliet,[16] Chicago, Milwaukee & Gary to Rockford,[17] and the interurbans Chicago Aurora and Elgin Railroad, Aurora, Elgin and Fox River Electric Company, Chicago, Aurora and DeKalb Railroad, and Aurora, Plainfield and Joliet Railroad. With the exception of the EJ&E main line on the east side of the city, all lines other than the former Burlington lines have been abandoned.