The Historic Past Of Aurora, Colorado

By Author: James Halstead
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The town now known as Aurora, Colorado began as the town of Fletcher, incorporated on April 30th, 1891. It was originally staked out as a four-square-mile plot of prairie land to the east of Denver. The original plot reached from Yosemite Street to Peoria and 6th Avenue to 26th Avenue and included just 39 residents. There were 14 brick houses with indoor plumbing and the foundations for a water system. It was founded by real estate tycoon Donald Fletcher who named it in his own honor. Fletcher and his partners viewed the town as a real estate development opportunity to capitalize on the silver rush in the area. At the time, silver was a very valuable metal, being used in U.S. currency as the silver dollar. However, vast quantities of gold from California led to the U.S. government terminating the use of silver coins as the country moved to the gold standard. That, unfortunately for Mr. Fletcher, led to repealing of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act. That, in turn, led to the silver crash of 1893. This coupled with a drought that hit the area during the same time, left Mr. Fletcher with a struggling community with no income and ...
... large debts, run up by Fletcher to purchase water. Fletcher fled the town, leaving it deeply in debt from bond payments for non-existent water.

The town was renamed Aurora in 1907 by local residents as it began to be overshadowed by its neighbor, Denver.

During World War I, due to Denver's reputation for the treatment of tuberculosis, Aurora was chosen as the site of a new medical facility, Army Hospital 21. The hospital was built to treat casualties of chemical weapons being used in Europe. The site was dedicated in the autumn of 1918. The town, at that time, had a population of less than 1,000 inhabitants. The site was quickly renamed Fitzsimons Army Hospital in 1920, in honor of the first American medical officer killed in the war, Lt. William T Fitzsimons. In 1941, the addition of a new building, Building 500, gave Aurora a short-lived claim to fame as the site of the largest structure in the state. In September 1955, the town became the focus of world attention when President Dwight D. Eisenhower recovered at the facility from a heart attack. In fact, Eisenhower was treated here for his heart condition three times during his presidency. On December 11, 1943, U.S. Senator and 2004 Presidential Candidate John Kerry was born here while his father underwent tuberculosis treatment. A suite of rooms was restored in 2000 to commemorate the time that Eisenhower spent there. The hospital was decommissioned in 1999; the facility is now home to the University of Colorado Denver's Anschutz Medical Campus and the Colorado Bioscience Park Aurora. It currently employs some 32,000 people.

The year 1928 saw Aurora reach official city status with 2,000 people. Just 10 years later, Lowry Air Force Base opened close to the new city. Prosperity followed the base and the expanding of facilities like Fitzsimons Hospital and by 1940, the population had increased to 3,000. By 1950, it had expanded to some 10,000 people. Heavy government investment brought Buckley Air National Guard Base and in time, Buckley Air Force Base brought more jobs, more residents and booming prosperity.

In 2004, Sports Illustrated paid homage to Aurora in its 50th Anniversary "Sportstown" edition for Colorado. This honored the city's exceptional facilitation and encouragement of sports. The city's commitment to sporting prowess is evidenced by the sheer number of professional athletes that come from there.

From 1907 forward, Aurora grew slowly, finally emerging in the late 1970s and early 1980s as the fastest growing city in the United States. Although sometimes seen as one of Denver's suburbs, its recent growth has led to calls for equal recognition with its neighbor. However, the lack of a defined business district makes this difficult to achieve. Currently, Aurora is reconsidering a consolidated city and county government. This failed to pass in the mid-1990s. The impact of such a consolidation would be to set new boundaries which would in turn restrict any future growth for the city.

From its humble beginnings of four square miles, Aurora has grown to over 142 square miles and sits on I-70, I-225 and the E-470 beltway. It is the 58th most populous city in America and the third largest in Colorado, with dozens of neighborhoods and districts. It is a flourishing city of almost 320,000 people. What a mighty oak from that little acorn grew!
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