Aurora has grown by leaps and bounds over the decades. Once a small suburb of Denver, Aurora has boomed into the third-largest city in the state of Colorado. The city sits in three different counties: Adams County, Arapahoe County and Douglas County and lies just east of the city and county of Denver. The number of Aurorans just keeps on growing. As of July 1, 2019 the population was estimated at 381,000. The citizens of Aurora are diverse and come from many different backgrounds. The people of Aurora represent about 140 different countries. In fact around 1 in 5 Aurorans are foreign born. As the city expands geographically and demographically, it is hard not to recognize the historic growth underway. This exhibition will explore how the city has changed from its foundation up to the present day, dig deeper into the booms and busts that have defined Aurora's past and discover how growth is redefining the once small town.
The topographical character of modern Colorado originated between 60 and 30 million years ago. It was during this time period that tectonic forces, accompanied by volcanoes, floods and earthquakes shaped the land. Rainforest and savanna slowly gave way to high evergreen forest and low-lying, semi-arid plains that Aurorans recognize today.
Before the arrival of European settlers, Colorado's eastern plains were home to various nomadic indigenous peoples. These people long used Aurora's land as a thoroughfare while traveling between winter and summer settlements. The Apache and Pawnee people made their way here on foot around the year 1500, met by the occasional Spanish survey party. Later, the Cheyenne and Arapaho made this their land. In 1803, the U.S. government had claimed the land as part of the Louisiana Purchase and new explorers started venturing to the Rocky Mountain Front Range. Early development of this region was associated with the fur trade and early migration to the West. Five major streams pass through what is now Aurora, tributaries to the South Platte River: Cherry Creek, Toll Gate Creek, Unnamed Creek, Columbia Creek and Sand Creek. Along these creeks passed several major trails that served the native tribes and the fur traders who frequented the Rocky Mountains and the Front Range in the first half of the nineteenth century.
President Abraham Lincoln signed the Homestead Act into law on May 20, 1862, which paved the way for Euro-Anglo settlers to build farms and ranches on land in the West including land that is now Aurora. The Act proclaimed that settlers could acquire 160 acres of free land if they were at least 21 years old, built a home on the property that was at least 12 x 14 feet, lived in that home for at least five years and paid $18 in fees.
The present-day site of Aurora became a byway during Colorado's 1859- 1860 gold rush. Stage stops and mile houses were constructed along the roads that linked the mining camp of Denver with points east. Agricultural settlement began in the early 1860s with scattered farms and ranches thanks to the Homestead Act.
Some homesteaders, like the Gully family of Aurora, remained on their property through the 20th century while others viewed their homesteads as a financial investment for future development. From this development, the city of Denver quickly grew and became a town with many satellites (an early term for suburbs), and developers saw the opportunity to sell property acquired through the Homestead Act as city lots to residents in the rapidly expanding Denver metropolis.
The Colorado Gold Rush and the Homestead Act brought thousands of newcomers to the region in the late 1850s and early 1860s. Farms and ranches popped up throughout what is now Aurora. These homesteaders raised cattle, horses and sheep, as well as crops such as wheat, potatoes and sugar beets. The lack of water in the area led farmers to adopt dryland farming techniques The construction of the Highline Canal in the 1890s brought much needed water and allowed many farmers to increase their production.
Around the same time, developers began planning the town of Fletcher, envisioning it as a refined suburb of Denver. Donald Fletcher, Thomas Hayden, Samuel Marston Perry and Frank Perry combined their holdings into a four-square mile area. This small residential community, filled with Victorian-st y le homes, provided a quiet escape from the growing city of Denver. When the town of Fletcher incorporated on April 30, 1891, approximately 100 people called it home.
The original borders of Fletcher stretched from present-day Yosemite Street east to Peoria Street and 6th Avenue north to 26th Avenue.
The United State military has had a presence in Aurora for over 100 years. In 1917, Colorado's congressional and commercial delegations successfully campaigned the military to construct a hospital in the state. Many of the injured soldiers from Europe suffered from tuberculosis and other respiratory diseases. Medical experts at the time agreed that Colorado's climate would promote healing. Army General Hospital No. 21 opened near the small town of Aurora in 1918. Two years later it was renamed Fitzsimons General Hospital in honor of Lt. William T. Fitzsimons, the first U.S. medical officer killed in World War I. After numerous closure attempts in the 1930s, the government classified Fitzsimons as a permanent installation and appropriated funds for expansion. This included constructing a new main building to centralize patients and provide staff with up-to-date facilities. Building 500 was dedicated December 3, 1941, just days before the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Although it treated patients throughout both World Wars, Korea and Vietnam, Fitzsimons may be best known for the seven-week treatment of President Dwight Eisenhower after a heart attack in 1955. Although the Army deactivated Fitzsimons Army Medical Center in 1999, the Anschutz Medical Campus now sits on the former Fitzsimons site and maintains a world-wide reputation for cutting-edge medical technology and research.
Astreetcar line was completed down East Colfax Avenue to Dayton Street in 1898, but modern-day Aurora remained primarily agricultural during the first decades of the twentieth century. The business district grew gradually east of Denver along East Colfax Avenue concentrated east of Yosemite Street. By 1928, the town of Aurora had grown in population, numbering over 2,000, enough residents to upgrade in status from "town" to "city." The town clerk filed papers with the Colorado Secretary of State to formalize the change, and in March of 1928 it became official. The city of Aurora held its first election to replace the Board of Trustees with a City Council. The City also took the opportunity to upgrade many services offered to its expanding population. Now that Aurora was a city, it was allowed to create special assessment districts to raise money for public projects. In 1929, the city passed ordinances to create the first districts for a sewer system and street improvement. Construction also began on a new fire station.
Buckley Air Force Base's origins can be traced to January 1938 when the city of Denver purchased 64,000 acres of land for a bombing range assigned to Lowry Field. The range was activated in March 1938 on the site of the Phipps Sanitarium in Denver's Montclair neighborhood. The area was chosen due to its proximity to Lowry, just a few miles east of the installation. The decision to set aside 960 acres for the Army as an auxiliary landing field and ammunition depot for Lawry's aircraft saw the earliest development of what eventually became Buckley Air Force Base.
The advent of World War II in September 1939 coincided with a buildup of military activity at both Lowry and the bombing range as the United States prepared for a possible entry into the conflict. By 1941, the workload at the now-4,500 acre auxiliary field had grown enough that the War Department decided to designate it as a separate installation, under the authority of the United States Army Air Force Technical Training Command. On June 18th, it became Buckley Army Air Field, named after Longmont resident and World War I pilot Lt. John Harold Buckley, who died September 27th, 1918 during the Meuse-Argonne offensive. Buckley Air Force Base has established itself as one of the most prominent economic and physical landmarks in the history of Aurora.
Following World War II, Aurora experienced rapid suburban growth, as did many cities in Colorado and elsewhere in the country. The abundance of inexpensive land and the resolution of water problems spurred residential construction that met the critical housing shortage that followed the war Many soldiers who trained in the Rocky Mountain region settled down here with their families. The recently passed GI Bill gave them the means to purchase a home. Aurora's population of 3,437 residents in 1940 jumped to 48,548 by 1960 .
Developers like Sam Hoffman took advantage of the housing shortage and built 1,700 homes using an assembly line method of construction in a new neighborhood called Hoffman Heights. Families desired a modern home with a yard and space for an automobile, as well as strong community ties and good schools. The self-contained community of Hoffman Heights included 7,000 residents by 1953, as well as a fire station, park, shopping center and school.
To address the needs of a growing population, the city professionalized and expanded its police and fire departments. It also required subdivision developers to pave roads, install water and sewer lines, and create space for parks and schools. Aurora purchased its first water rights in 1957 and soon began to initiate plans to ensure water independence and allow for future growth.
The establishment of the United States Numbered Highway System in 1926 created U.S. Route 40 that ran across the country between Atlantic City, N.J. and San Francisco. It crossed through the Denver metro area along Colfax Avenue. Improving road conditions and increasing interest in exploring the West led to an even higher demand for roadside accommodations. Aurora was the first city encountered after crossing the prairie just before entering Denver and the mountains. This created a unique opportunity for local merchants who profited by meeting the needs of out-of-state tourists.
Fallowing World War II, during the height of car culture and post-war prosperity, many new establishments were founded along the thriving Colfax Avenue. Motels, restaurants, drive-ins and entertainment venues brought big - city life to the Aurora suburb near East Colfax Avenue. In the early history of Aurora, this thoroughfare was the life-blood of the community. It was in the mid-20th century when retail and housing development pushed further south and east, away from the historical East Colfax Avenue neighborhoods and shopping districts.
As with many Colorado towns, the history of Aurora is tied to water. Irrigation on the plains east of Denver became possible as farmers diverted water from local creeks to their fields. At first, settlement in the area was small and the water supply was sufficient. However, by 1870, the railroads brought hundreds of new settlers to the area and the demand for water rose dramatically. Various attempts were made to store and sell water to Fletcher residents once the town was founded. Fletcher tried to become self-sufficient and survive on its own supply. Donald Fletcher established the East Denver Water Company and the town took on bonded indebtedness. It became apparent that the only solution was to purchase water from the Denver Union Water Company in 1902; Aurora continued to purchase water from Denver until the 1960s.
Today, Aurora's water is supplied largely by snowmelt and transported through an extensive system to the city and storage facilities. The city's raw water is collected and stored in 12 reservoirs, including the Aurora Reservoir, Quincy Reservoir and others outside of Aurora, which when filled to capacity can store more than 156,000 -acre feet of water. Aurora Water operates a distribution system that includes over 1,600 miles of pipe and 12 potable water pump stations. Three drinking water treatment facilities have a capacity of 210 million gallons per day.
In 1965, "The Denver Business Journal" announced that the Joslins Department store chain planned to build a two million dollar store, which would include other retail, offices and restaurants. The shopping center was to be built on a fifteen-acre site at Mississippi and Havana streets in Aurora. In August 1971, the planned project came to fruition when the Buckingham Square Mall opened. "The Rocky Mountain News" warned that Buckingham may eventually displace Aurora's East Colfax Avenue shopping district and become Aurora's new downtown. The mall opened to renowned acclaim. It featured a modern interior design, a climate control system and boasted a 99% retail occupancy when it opened. One of the mall's most popular components was the American Multi-Cinema, Inc. (AMC) multi-screen movie complex, which offered patrons options between different genres played simultaneously on different screens throughout the complex. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s the mall was a place where the community gathered. It hosted special events, was a place where the youth gathered and socialized and thrived as a family-friendly community destination. In the 1990s, the mall started to lose anchor retailers and struggled to compete with its primary competitor, the Aurora Mall on East Alameda Avenue and Exposition Avenue, which opened in 1975. The decline of Buckingham was slow and gradual until it finally folded in 2007.
With the successes of the Buckingham Square Mall and the Aurora Mall there was a marked shift in Aurora's business district away from East Colfax Avenue in the 1970s and 1980s. It was during this period the city expanded geographically and incorporated residences further south and east. Due to this changing geographical landscape, the rise of corporate "big box stores" and the mall as a community destination, the once thriving East Colfax Avenue saw a time of retail decline and a decrease in capital investment.
In the early 1950s, Aurora began annexing the many new residential subdivisions which had sprung up around the city's southern and eastern borders. At the same time, the city began annexing large tracts of undeveloped land, laying the foundation for future commercial development. Aurora experienced its most dramatic population growth in the 1970s and 1980s when it added almost 150,000 people-tripling the population of the city. The landscape of Aurora shifted greatly during this period of history. In the 1970s alone, Aurora had a growth rate of 111 percent. At the time, city councilman and future mayor Paul Tauer commented on Aurora's relationship with Denver, "I could see us having a twin-city relationship like Minneapolis- St. Paul." By 1990, Aurora had become the second-largest city in the metropolitan area and boasts a larger geographical footprint than Denver. The once small town, now is comprised of 154 square miles, stretching across Adams, Arapahoe and Douglas counties. Although the population growth rate has slowed in recent decades, the city continues to add an average of 5,000 people each year-or roughly 50,000 people per decade-bringing the current population to over 380,000.
Aurora is more than a mile high at its lowest point of 5,285 feet above sea level. But then the city's elevation increases to more than 6,200 feet above sea level at its highest point in the southeast. Surface water in Aurora flows into several streams that eventually join the South Platte River. Aurora enjoys a mild, semi-arid climate with an average annual precipitation of only 15 inches and an average of 300 sunny days per year. Its sweeping views of the Front Range Mountains and its mild climate make it a pleasant place to live. The well-developed park and trail systems, coupled with large open space areas like the Plains Conservation Center and Aurora Reservoir, provide significant outdoor places for the community.
Aurora welcomes and celebrates the growing diversity of its population. According to the Aurora Public Schools' 2018-2019 demographic report, there are more than 160 languages spoken in the district, along with a student body comprised of pupils from more than 130 countries around the world. Aurora boasts a vibrancy of culture and diversity unrivaled by any other municipality in the Denver - Aurora metro. For a little more context, the Colorado State Demography Office found that 20% of Aurora's residents are foreign born. That is 1 out of 5 Aurorans. Brown University research cited Aurora as the 9th most diverse at the neighborhood level and the 10th most integrated community among the 100 most populous cities in the United States. This diversity has translated into a complex multicultural city identity. Aurorans have access to some of the best restaurants featuring international cuisine, plenty of cultural events and festivals to attend and a mosaic of cultures unlike any other.
Early students in Aurora would have been taught at home or in loosely organized one room school houses. As the town developed, more residents meant more school-aged children. The first school district in Aurora was created at the request of William Smith by the Arapahoe County School Superintendent around 1885. As the town grew, so did its demand for more educational facilities. The student population jumped from approximately 1,000 in 1946 to over 15,000 by 1960. During this time, district superintendent William C. Hinkley oversaw the rapid expansion of Aurora Public Schools from two buildings to a system of 26 elementary schools, four junior highs and two high schools.
Today, Aurora is home to multiple public and private school districts, as well as several higher education facilities. The majority of Aurora is served by Aurora Public Schools and Cherry Creek School District, while small portions of the city fall within the Brighton, Bennett and Douglas County school districts. Aurora is also well-served by a variety of higher education institutions. The University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Pima Medical Institute and Concorde Career College offer a spectrum of medical education and health care training programs. The Community College of Aurora offers a diversity of degree programs at two campuses and online. Pickens Technical College provides classes in variety of fields, including engineering and technology, health, transportation, business technologies and human services. As the city expands, its education infrastructure has expanded concurrently with the city's needs.
Aurora grew from a small town centered on Colfax Avenue into a large multi-cultural city that continues to spread south and eastward. After the closure of Fitzsimons Army Medical Center in 1999, the city reinvented itself as a hotbed for medical and scientific development. New hospitals and technology companies relocated to Aurora, bringing new residents desiring new homes and subdivisions.
For much of its history, the public viewed Aurora as a bedroom community and a suburb of Denver. But with the evergrowing prominence of key economic assets like the Anschutz Medical Campus, Buckley Air Force Base and related aerospace industries and recent additions such as Stanley Marketplace, the Amazon fulfillment center, and the Gaylord Rockies Resort and Conference Center, the city continues to be attractive to businesses and investment.
As Aurora has grown, the way its citizens get around has changed overtime. Long gone are the trolley trailer cars of Colfax Avenue, rather, residents commute via car, bus, bike or light rail.
The establishment of the United States Numbered Highway System in 1926 created U.S. Route 40, which brought tourism and increased automobile traffic to Aurora's Colfax Avenue. Construction on 1-225 began in May 1964 at 1-70 and finished on May 21, 1976 after the completion of a section connecting Yosemite and 1-25. Construction for 1-70 began at the Kansas state line in 1967 and was completed in 1972.
In more recent years, the city of Aurora has become more connected to the whole Denver metro. The Regional Transportation District (RTD) is the public agency that provides public transportation services and delivers transit infrastructure to the region. The University of Colorado A Line offers commuter rail transit service between Denver International Airport and Denver Union Station, connecting via two stations in Aurora. The Aurora Line, or R Line, offers light rail transit service between Peoria Station and Dayton Station within Aurora, with continuing service to Lincoln Station in Lone Tree. The existing H Line between downtown Denver and Nine Mile Station was also extended to Florida Station in Aurora. With the opening of these lines, Aurora has achieved significant improvements in transit mobility, accessibility and regional connectivity.
