Aurora, Colorado, United States

🇺🇸 The City of Aurora is a Home Rule Municipality located in Arapahoe, Adams, and Douglas counties, Colorado, United States. Aurora lies immediately east of Denver and it is one of the principal cities of the Denver–Aurora–Lakewood Metropolitan Statistical Area and a major city of the Front Range Urban Corridor. It is the third most populous city in the State of Colorado.

History Before European settlement, the land that now makes up Aurora was the territory of the Arapaho, Cheyenne, Núu-agha-tʉvʉ-pʉ̱ (Ute), and Očeti Šakówiŋ (Sioux) tribes. Aurora originated in the 1880s as the town of Fletcher, taking its name from Denver businessman Donald Fletcher who saw it as a real estate opportunity. He and his partners staked out four square miles (10 km²) east of Denver, but the town - and Colorado - struggled mightily after the Silver Crash of 1893. At that point Fletcher skipped town, leaving the community with a huge water debt. Inhabitants decided to rename the town Aurora in 1907, after one of the subdivisions composing the town, and Aurora slowly began to grow in Denver's shadow becoming the fastest-growing city in the United States during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Aurora, composed of hundreds of subdivisions, thus carries the name of one of the original development plats from which it sprang.

Aurora's growing population in recent decades has led to efforts for co-equal recognition with its larger neighbor. Former mayor Dennis Champine once expressed the somewhat whimsical notion that eventually the area would be called the "Aurora/Denver Metropolitan Area". Indeed, since the 2000 Census Aurora has surpassed Denver in land area, and much of Aurora is undeveloped, while Denver is more fully built-out. However, such efforts are somewhat hampered by the lack of a large, historically important central business district in the city. Aurora is largely suburban in character, as evidenced by the city's modest number of multi-story buildings.

A large military presence has existed in Aurora since the early 20th century. In 1918, Army General Hospital #21 (later renamed Fitzsimons Army Hospital) opened, with the U.S. government expanding and upgrading the hospital facilities in 1941 just in time to care for the wounded servicemen of World War II. Lowry Air Force Base was opened in 1938, straddling the border of Aurora and Denver. It eventually closed in 1994, and has been redeveloped into a master-planned community featuring residential, commercial, business and educational facilities. In 1942, the Army Air Corps built Buckley Field, which has been renamed Naval Air Station, Buckley Air National Guard Base, Buckley Air Force Base, and finally Buckley Space Force Base. The base, home of the Buckley Garrison and the 140th Wing Colorado Air National Guard, is Aurora's largest employer.

President Warren G. Harding visited Fitzsimons Army Hospital in 1923, and President Franklin D. Roosevelt visited in 1936. In 1943 the hospital was the birthplace of 2004 Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry. President Dwight D. Eisenhower recovered from a heart attack at Fitzsimons for seven weeks during the fall of 1955. Decommissioned in 1999, the facility is part of the Anschutz Medical Campus of the University of Colorado Denver, and the Fitzsimons Life Science District. The Anschutz Medical Campus also includes the University of Colorado Hospital, which moved to Aurora from Denver in 2007, and the Children's Hospital. The first carbon-ion radiotherapy research and treatment facility in the U.S. has been proposed at the site. These facilities will employ a workforce of 32,000 at build-out.

In 1965, mayor Norma O. Walker became the first woman to head a U.S. city with a population over 60,000.

In 1978, the cult coming-of-age film Over the Edge was filmed in Aurora; the crime drama has been named the “signature film” of Denver.

In 1979, it was announced that a science fiction theme park would be built in Aurora using the sets of a $50 million film based on the fantasy novel Lord of Light. However, due to legal problems the project was never completed. The script of the unmade film project, renamed Argo, was used as cover for the "Canadian Caper": the exfiltration of six U.S. diplomatic staff trapped by the Iranian hostage crisis.

In 1993, Cherry Creek State Park on the south-western edge of Aurora was the location for the papal mass of the 8th World Youth Day with Pope John Paul II, attended by an estimated 500,000 people.

Aurora is split among three counties and lies distant from the respective county seats. A consolidated city and county government such as those found elsewhere in Colorado (Denver and Broomfield) was considered in the mid-1990s but failed to win approval by city voters; the issue was reconsidered in 2006.

Aurora Sports Park opened in 2003. In 2004, Aurora was honored as the Sports Illustrated magazine's 50th Anniversary "Sportstown" for Colorado because of its exemplary involvement in facilitating and enhancing sports. The city attracts more than 30 regional and national sports tournaments annually to Aurora's fields, which include the 220-acre (0.89 km²) Aurora's active populace is also reflected in the variety of professional athletes hailing from the city. Aurora's first semi-professional sports franchise, the Aurora Cavalry in the International Basketball League, began play in 2006 but folded by season's end due to budget mishaps.

In 2008, Aurora was designated an All-America City by the National Civic League.

Aurora pioneered the use of bank filtration in the United States, becoming one of the first U.S. cities to reap the benefits of siphoning water from beneath a riverbed upon completion of the Prairie Waters Project in 2010.

In 2017, the Republic of El Salvador opened a consulate in Aurora, serving Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, and Wyoming.

Geography Aurora's official elevation, posted on signs at the city limits, is 5,471 feet (1,668 m). However, the city spans a difference in elevation of nearly 1,000 feet (300 m). The lowest elevation of 5,285 feet (1,611 m) is found at the point where Sand Creek crosses the city limit in the north-west corner of the city, while the highest elevation of 6,229 feet (1,899 m) is on the extreme southern border of the city in Douglas County, near the intersection of Inspiration and Gartrell roads.

At the 2020 United States Census, the city had a total area of 102,851 acres (416.223 km²) including 368 acres (1.489 km²) of water. The city is about 5 percent more extensive than neighboring Denver and ranks as the 56th largest U.S. city in land area.

Neighborhoods Aurora is composed of dozens of neighborhoods, districts and (current and former) military installations. Among them: • Aurora Heights • The Aurora Highlands • Adonea • Aurora Hills • Aurora Knolls • Beacon Point • Berkshire Village • Blackstone • Brookvale • Buckley Space Force Base • Carriage Place • Chadsford • Chaddsford Village • Chambers Heights • Chelsea • Cinnamon Village II • Conservatory • Copperleaf • Corning • Crestridge • Cross Creek • The Dam East • Del Mar • The Dam West • Downtown A-Town (the Fletcher townsite, Aurora's "downtown") • Eastridge • East Quincy Highlands • Fitzsimons Campus • Fox Hill • Greenfield • Hallcraft's Village East • Hampton Hills • Havana Heights • Heather Gardens • Heather Ridge • Heritage Eagle Bend Golf Club • Highline Villages • Highpoint • Hillside at Del Mar • Hoffman Heights • Hutchinson Heights • Inspiration • Jackson Farm • Kingsborough • Laredo-Highline • Lowry Campus (formerly Lowry Air Force Base) • Lynn Knoll • Meadowood • Meadow Hills • Mission Viejo • Morris Heights • Murphy Creek • Peoria Park • Pheasant Run • Piney Creek • Ponderosa Ridge • Pride's Crossing • Ptarmigan Park • Queensborough • Quincy Hill • Rocking Horse • Saddle Rock • Settler's Village • Serenity Ridge • Seven Hills • Shenandoah • Stapleton • Siena • Smoky Hill • Smoky Ridge • Sterling Hills • Stricker's House • Summer Valley Ranch • Tallgrass • Tallyn's Reach • The Timbers • Tollgate Run at Kingsborough • Tollgate Village • Traditions • Tuscany • Utah Park • Village East • Waters Edge • Wheatlands • Whispering Pines • Willow Park • Willow Trace • Woodgate • Woodrim

Surrounding municipalities North: Denver; West: Denver, Centennial; East: Watkins, Bennett, Strasburg; South: Greenwood Village, Centennial, Foxfield, Parker.

Economy According to the Aurora Economic Development Council, the largest public employers in the city are: 1 Buckley Space Force Base; 2 Anschutz Medical Campus; 3 University of Colorado Hospital; 4 Aurora Public Schools; 5 Cherry Creek Schools; 6 City of Aurora; 7 Community College of Aurora.

According to the Aurora Economic Development Council, the largest private employers in the city of Aurora are: 1 Children's Hospital Colorado; 2 Raytheon Company; 3 Kaiser Permanente; 4 The Medical Center of Aurora; 5 Amazon; 6 24-7 Intouch; 7 SROriginals; 8 Tyco Integrated Security; 9 Northrop Grumman; 10 ADT Inc.

Other notable employers in the city include Lockheed Martin Corporation, Staples Inc., United Natural Foods, Aurora Mental Health Center, G45 Secure Solutions, Graebel Relocation, Core-Mark, and Nelnet, Inc.

In 2020, German cleaning technology manufacturer Kärcher opened its North American headquarters in Aurora, on a new street named Kärcher Way.

Attractions The city of Aurora manages more than 100 parks, more than 6,000 acres (24 km²) of open space and natural areas, and six award-winning municipal golf courses (Aurora Hills, Meadow Hills, Murphy Creek, Saddle Rock, Springhill and Fitzsimons). Aurora also is home to several privately owned golf courses including CommonGround Golf Course, Heather Ridge Country Club, Heritage Eagle Bend Golf Club and Valley Country Club.

Star K Ranch, home to Aurora's Morrison Nature Center, provides important habitat for wildlife. It has several trails for nature exploration, including access to the Sand Creek Greenway Trail. Jewell Wetland, a 50-acre (200,000 m²) wooded wetland, features trails, boardwalk/deck access into the wetland and a butterfly garden. Aurora Reservoir and Quincy Reservoir offer plenty of opportunities for outdoor water pursuits.

DeLaney Farm, site of Aurora's famous historic round barn, has 130 acres (0.53 km²) of open space, trails with access to the High Line Canal, an organic garden managed by Denver Urban Gardens, and two structures on the National Register of Historic Places. The Plains Conservation Center, with 1,100 acres (4.5 km²) of native shortgrass prairie, hosts a variety of educational programs.

Twenty-seven historic sites and landmarks are managed by the city of Aurora, including the Gully Homestead of 1870, the Victorian-style Centennial House of 1890, the privately owned American War Mothers National Memorial Home, the Art Deco-style KOA Building of 1934, the DeLaney Round Barn of 1902, Lowry Building 800, the interim headquarters for the U.S. Air Force Academy from 1955 to 1958, and Stanley Marketplace, which opened at the former site of Stanley Aviation in 2016.

The Aurora Fox Theatre & Arts Center, another historic landmark, is a 245-seat performing arts facility in the Aurora Cultural Arts District, along East Colfax Avenue. In that same area, The People's Building is a performing arts venue with flexible space, including 191 retractable seats and a gallery.

The Aurora History Museum is a community-based cultural centre featuring a permanent exhibit on Aurora history and two changing exhibit galleries touching on topics related to history and decorative arts.

The Aurora Symphony Orchestra, a community orchestra established in 1978, offers a full season of full orchestra concerts annually as well as smaller chamber ensemble performances.

The Aurora Public Library serves its population, providing four main branches, four PC centres, and a variety of events throughout the year to its population.

Town Center at Aurora is the city's main shopping mall. Other shopping centres in Aurora include The Gardens on Havana (formerly Buckingham Square) and Southlands.

Stanley Marketplace, a shopping mall inside the former Stanley Aviation plant.

Education • Columbia College–Aurora; • University of Colorado Denver at the Anschutz Medical Campus; • Colorado Community College System; ◦ Community College of Aurora; ◦ Pickens Technical College.

For-profit schools ◦ Anthem College; ◦ Colorado School of Holistic and Naturopathic Studies; ◦ Colorado Technical University South Denver Campus; ◦ Concorde Career College; ◦ Everest College; ◦ Platt College.

Transport Aurora straddles Interstate 70, Interstate 225 and the E-470 beltway. The Regional Transportation District's light rail transit system was extended to serve the south-western edge of Aurora on November 17, 2006. The H Line stops at Aurora's Dayton and Nine Mile Stations; a comprehensive network of feeder buses in southern Aurora serve the latter. On February 24, 2017, the line was extended as the R Line to Peoria Station in the city's north-west, where riders may transfer to the A Line providing service between Union Station in downtown Denver and Denver International Airport (DIA). Much of Aurora is more convenient to DIA than Denver itself, and the city is planning an aerotropolis along the airport's southern flank. This proximity is a factor in the expected growth of the E-470 corridor directly south of DIA, projected to eventually accommodate 250,000 additional Aurora residents. The easternmost portions of Aurora adjoin the Colorado Air and Space Port.

In 2017, Aurora became the first city in Colorado to host a dockless bike sharing program.

Sport In 2014 the U.S.A. Powerlifting Raw Nationals and the IPF Open Powerlifting World Championships were both held in Aurora. The WC was the 35th Women and 44th Men open Powerlifting Championships, and it was held on the Radisson Hotel Denver Southeast.