AURORA, Ill., city, Kane County, on Fox River, and on the C., B. &Q, the C. & N. W., the E. J. & E., and the C. M. & G. railroads. Is the hub of electric interurban lines ex tending in all directions to Chicago, to Elgin and Dundee, to DeKalb, Yorkville, and Morris and Joliet. It was founded in 1834 by Joseph and Samuel McCarty; at first there were two incorporated villages, one on each side of the river, until 1840, they were made one municipality and organized as a city. Aurora is an important manufacturing city, having a variety of extensive establish ments; these include the shops of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy. Railroad, cotton mills, wheeled scraper factory, railroad dump cars, racing sulky, paint, door hangers, chemical supplies, wrappers, shirts, corsets, steel cabi nets and shelving, flour, mattresses, roofing, silverware, lithographing, cooperage, fertilizer, toilet articles, binder board, automatic tools, stoves and ranges, brick, brushes, typewriter supplies, conveying machinery, gravel plants, condensed milk, acetylene gas, woodworking machinery, pumps, motorcycles, grindstones, paper boxes, gas mantles, millwork, well ma chinery. There are several foundries and machine shops, and a large number of small manufactories. The United States census of manufactures for 1914 recorded 140 industrial establishments of factory grade, employing 5,497 persons, of whom 4,778 were wage earners, receiving $3,033,000 annually in wages.
The aggregate capital employed was $14,806, 000, and the year's output was valued at $10, 789,000; of this, $5,530,000 was added by manufacture. There are five national banks and one State bank. The city has 43 churches, a good system of public schools, including two high schools, the East High School and the West High School, and a public library, a building for which was presented by Andrew Carnegie. It is also the seat of the Advent Christian Col lege, and of the Jennings Seminary for young women. There are fine buildings owned by the Y. M. C. A. and the Y. W. C. A., a city hospi tal and Saint Joseph and Saint Charles hospi tals, and a new State armory. The govern ment is vested in a mayor and city council of 14, seven of which are selected each year, for a term of two years. The water and electric lighting plants are owned and operated by the city. Aurora was the first city in the world to light its streets by electricity. Pop. (1900) 24,147; (1910) 29,807, an increase of 23.4 per cent ;_(1916) 36,000.