The city of Aurora is the 112th biggest US city and the 2nd biggest within Illinois State. The city of Aurora serves as a suburb for the city of Chicago and is situated some 40 miles or 64 km west of "the Loop." According to records, during 2010 the population was about 197,900. Aurora was originally founded within the county of Kane. During the last 50 years, the city limits have greatly expanded and now they spill over into Will, DuPage and Kendall Counties. Kendall was considered to be the fastest growing county in the United States during 2010.
New York natives Joseph and Samuel McCarty founded Aurora in 1837. Originally the settlement was referred to as McCarty Mills. After it merged with the nearby town of West Aurora in the year 1857, the two communities merged as one. Nicknamed the "City of Lights," the city of Aurora became the very first city in the United States to use electric lights in the year 1881 for lighting all of the roads in the city.
During a portion of the early 1900s, the city of Aurora was home to 6 various car companies. Eventually, these automobile companies eventually folded. A strong part of the city's economy has been manufacturing and this was an important business in years of the Depression and both World Wars. In the 1970s and 1980s, many factories started closing, forcing the city of Aurora to explore alternate sources of revenue.
Aurora City welcomed a riverboat casino into the city's downtown core area and development all-around nearby residential communities and likewise the casino began to flourish. The Hollywood Casino is a dockside gaming facility with 1200 gaming options in a 53,000 square foot building. As its namesake, the casino houses the original memorabilia from films like for instance Wayne's World, The FBI Story The Blues Brothers, Misery, The Natural and Titanic amongst others.
Aurora's downtown core is situated along the Fox River. During 2011, the city started a large-scale redevelopment plant to renovate the underdeveloped Stolp Island business district. Along the Fox River there are plans to construct roughly 6000 housing units.
This area consists of one of the most impressive architectural collections within the Midwest. Aurora features buildings by Bruce Goff, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Frank Lloyd Wright and George Grant Elmslie.
Situated at the edge of the city is the Illinois Technology and Research Corridor. Aurora shares the area's long standing history of manufacturing, including some of the city's major manufacturers, such as: Lyon Workspace Products, barber Greene Ltd., the Aurora Silverplate Manufacturing Company, the Chicago Corset Company, Caterpillar Inc., Western Wheeled Scraper Works that eventually became Austin-Western Inc, National Metalwares, Allsteel Metals and the Aurora Brewing Company. The most famous industry and employer was the Chicago Burlington and Quincy Railroad, this eventually became Burlington Northern and they held their head office in Aurora.