A Brief History of Aurora Illinois

Originally, Aurora was home to a village of Potawatomi Native Americans, who traded peacefully with white settlers in the area. In 1834, Joseph and Samuel McCarty came west from New York to look for a site to build a sawmill, and they found the Fox River. An island at a bend in the river provided a great location to establish mills and factories where water power could be utilized. At first, there were two separate settlements on either side of the river, but they merged in 1857 to form the town of Aurora.

The name of Aurora was chosen because the Aurora Borealis, or "Northern Lights". High above the night sky, fantastic shades of blue and green would shine putting on quite a thrilling show for the residents. Ironically, Aurora is also known as "The City of Lights", because it was the first place in Aurora to line its streets with electric lights.