AURORA, a city of Kane county, Illinois, U.S.A., on the Fox river, 38 m. W. of Chicago. It is on federal highway 32; is served by the Burlington and the Chicago and North Western railways, and for freight also by the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul and the Elgin, Joliet and Eastern railways; and has a commercial air port. Its area is 6.9 sq.m. The population was in 1920, and was 46,589 in 1930 Federal census. About 18% are foreign born.
Aurora has a beautiful site in the fertile Fox river valley. Zoning laws and an official city plan are in effect, and three fourths of the homes are owned by their occupants. The assessed valuation of property in 1926 was Aurora college of the Advent Christian Church was established here in 1911. Shops of the Burlington railway are situated here, and the city is an important manufacturing centre. The output of the 109 establishments within the city in 1927 was valued at $31,500,957. Among the leading products are road-building ma chinery, conveyors and loaders, pumps and drills, steel cabinets, lockers and shelving, pneumatic tools, iron, brass and aluminium castings, gas stoves, hardware specialties, cotton and woollen goods, corsets, toilet articles, typewriter supplies, dairy products, and animal serums.
Aurora was settled in 1834 as a trading point and mill site. The name of the goddess of the dawn was chosen by the early settlers as an expression of their confidence in the future. The city was chartered in 1857.