Aurora, Colorado Aurora, Colorado The Aurora Municipal Center The Aurora Municipal Center Official seal of Aurora, Colorado Aurora, Colorado is positioned in the US Aurora, Colorado - Aurora, Colorado Incorporated (city) 1929 as the City of Aurora Third most crowded Colorado town/city Aurora (/ r r /, / r r /) is a Home Rule Municipality in the U.S.
State of Colorado, spanning Arapahoe and Adams counties, with the extreme southeastern portion of the town/city extending into Douglas County.
Aurora is one of the principal metros/cities of the Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO Metropolitan Travel Destination (Metro Denver).
The city's populace was 325,078 in the 2010 census, which made it the third most crowded city in the state of Colorado and the 54th most crowded city in the United States.
The Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO Metropolitan Travel Destination had an estimated populace of 2,645,209 on July 1, 2012 (the 21st most crowded MSA in the U.S.). However, Denver and Aurora combined make up less than half of the Denver Metro Area's populace and Aurora has approximately half the populace of Denver.
See also: Timeline of Aurora, Colorado 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.
Inhabitants decided to rename the town Aurora in 1907, after one of the subdivisions composing the town, and Aurora slowly began to expanded in Denver's shadow becoming the fastest-growing town/city in the United States amid the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Aurora is composed of hundreds of subdivisions thus carries the name of one of the initial evolution plats from which it sprang.
Although Aurora has long been considered by many[who?] only as one of Denver's larger suburbs, Aurora's burgeoning population in recent decades (now over half the size of Denver) has led to accomplishments for co-equal recognition with its larger neighbor. Former mayor Dennis Champine once expressed the somewhat whimsical notion that eventually the region would be called the "Aurora/Denver Metropolitan Area".
Indeed, since the 2000 Enumeration Aurora has surpassed Denver in territory area, and much of Aurora is undeveloped, while Denver is more fully built-out.
Aurora is largely suburban in character, as evidenced by the city's modest compilation of tall buildings.
A large military existence has existed in Aurora since the early 20th century.
Lowry Air Force Base was opened in 1938, straddling the border of Aurora and Denver.
The base, home of the 460th Space Wing and the 140th Wing Colorado Air National Guard, is Aurora's biggest employer.
The Anschutz Medical Campus also includes the University of Colorado Hospital, which moved to Aurora from Denver in 2007, and the Children's Hospital.
In 1979, it was announced that a science fiction infamous park would be assembled in Aurora using the sets of a 50-million dollar film based on the fantasy novel Lord of Light.
In 1993, Cherry Creek State Park on the southwestern edge of Aurora was the locale for the papal mass of the 8th World Youth Day with Pope John Paul II, attended by an estimated 500,000 citizens . 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 town/city attracts more than 30 county-wide and nationwide sports tournaments annually to Aurora's fields, which include the 220-acre (0.89 km2) Aurora Sports Park opened in 2003.
Aurora's active populace is also reflected in the range of experienced 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 closed by season's end due to budget mishaps. Aurora is split among three counties and lies distant from the respective county seats.
A merged town/city and county government was considered in the mid-1990s but floundered to win approval by town/city voters.
The copy was reconsidered in 2006. Colorado voters created the City and County of Denver in 1902 and the City and County of Broomfield in 2001.
A merged town/city and county of Aurora would likely include areas not inside the current town/city limits, but the new city-county boundaries would be set, restricting future expansion.
In 2008, Aurora was designated an All-America City by the National Civic League. Main article: 2012 Aurora shooting On July 20, 2012, Aurora was the site of the second biggest mass shooting in terms of number of casualties in United States history, and the second-deadliest shooting in Colorado after the 1999 Columbine High School massacre. The shooting occurred just after midnight, when James Eagan Holmes opened fire amid the midnight premiere of The Dark Knight Rises in a Century movie theater, killing 12 citizens and injuring 70 others. Holmes was arrested inside 12 hours of the incident, and was sentenced to 12 life sentences in prison with an additional required 3,318 years.
President Barack Obama visited victims, as well as small-town and state officials, and addressed the country in a televised address from Aurora on July 22.
The affairs marked a turning point in recognition and enhance perception of the city; clean water referring to the site as being in "Denver" or "suburban Denver", as would have been typical before the event, virtually all media accounts of the incident unequivocally titled "Aurora" as its location. Aurora is positioned at 39 43 N 104 50 W (39.73, -104.83). The city's official elevation, posted on signs at the town/city limits, is 5,471 feet (1,668 m).
The lowest altitude of 5,285 feet (1,611 m) is found at the point where Sand Creek crosses the town/city limit in the northwest corner of the city, while the highest altitude of 6,229 feet (1,899 m) is on the extreme southern border of the town/city in Douglas County, near the intersection of Inspiration and Gartrell roads. The town/city itself has the biggest number of enclaves in the state.
As of the 2000 census, the town/city had a total region of 142.7 square miles (370 km2), of which 142.5 square miles (369 km2) was territory and 0.2 square miles (0.52 km2), or 0.17%, was water.
By 2010, the town/city had grown to 154.7 square miles (401 km2), surpassing Denver's 153.0 square miles (396 km2) and ranking as the 54th biggest U.S.
1973 aerial view of Fitzsimons Army Hospital in Aurora, before closure Aurora is composed of dozens of neighborhoods, districts and (current and former) military installations.
Aurora Heights Aurora Highlands Aurora Hills Original Aurora (the Fletcher townsite, Aurora's "downtown") Stapleton (a portion of the redevelopment of Denver's former airport lies in Aurora, directly north of Original Aurora) West: Denver, Centennial Aurora East: Watkins, Bennett, Strasburg Summers range from mild to hot, with generally low humidity and incessant afternoon thunderstorms, and Aurora also averages about one dozen tornado warnings throughout tornado season, running from April July.
Aurora inhabitants typically hear the tornado sirens go off various times more than inhabitants in Denver, to the West.
All of Aurora is positioned east of I-25, where tornado alley begins.
The average first snow flurry in the Aurora region occurs in late October and the average final snow flurry occurs in late April, although snow has declined as early as September 4 and as late as June 5.
Climate data for Aurora, Colorado Hispanic or Latino of any race were 28.7% of the population; 21.9% of Aurora's populace is of Mexican heritage, 1.0% Salvadoran, 0.7% Puerto Rican, 0.4% Guatemalan, 0.3% Honduran, 0.3% Peruvian, 0.2% Cuban, 0.2% Colombian and 0.1% Nicaraguan . Non-Hispanic Whites were 47.3% of the populace in 2010, compared to 85.1% in 1980. Aurora is a center of Colorado's refugee population.
According to the Aurora Economic Development Council, the biggest enhance employers in the town/city are: 4 Aurora Public Schools 4,020 6 City of Aurora 3,740 7 Community College of Aurora 510 According to the Aurora Economic Development Council, the top 10 biggest private employers in the town/city are: 1 The Children's Hospital (Aurora, Colorado) 4,100 5 Health - ONE Colorado: The Medical Center of Aurora 1,480 Other momentous businesses include Mexicana de Aviacion, and the Aurora Mental Health Center.
The town/city of Aurora levies an Occupational Privilege Tax (OPT or Head Tax) on employers and employees.
The town/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 a several privately owned golf courses including Common - Ground Golf Course, Heather Ridge Country Club, Heritage Eagle Bend Golf Club, John F.
Star K Ranch, home to Aurora's Morrison Nature Center, provides meaningful surrounding for wildlife.
Aurora Reservoir and Quincy Reservoir offer plenty of opportunities for outside water pursuits. De - Laney 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.
Twenty-six historic sites and landmarks are managed by the town/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 De - Laney Round Barn of 1902, and Lowry Building 800, the interim command posts for the U.S.
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.
The Aurora History Museum is a community-based cultural center featuring a permanent exhibit on Aurora history and two changing exhibit arcades touching on topics related to history and decorative arts. The Aurora Symphony Orchestra, a improve orchestra established in 1978, offers a full season of full orchestra concerts annually as well as lesser chamber ensemble performances. The Aurora Public Library serves its population, providing four chief chapters, four PC centers, and a range of affairs throughout the year to its population. The town/city of Aurora operates under a council-manager form of government, where the town/city manager runs the city's day-to-day operations with general guidance from the town/city council.
The Aurora City Council is composed of a mayor and ten council members.
Aurora's mayor part is largely ceremonial, but the mayor does have direct impact on policy issues as the head of town/city council. This full-service town/city is protected by the Aurora Police Department, one of only 10 law enforcement agencies in Colorado to be accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies; the Aurora Fire Department, which is accredited by the Commission on Fire Accreditation International; and a Public Safety Communications dispatch call center. The Aurora Municipal Courts handles a wide range of offense violations, and the Aurora Detention Center is a 72-hour adult holding facility. The town/city of Aurora owns the former Guiraud Ranch in Park County.
Aurora Public Schools Bennett Public Schools (Undeveloped territory in Aurora that extends east of Monaghan Road, north of County Line Road and south of 72nd Avenue falls inside this district) Columbia College Aurora Community College of Aurora Main article: Media in Aurora, Colorado Aurora straddles Interstate 70, Interstate 225 and the E-470 beltway.
The Regional Transportation District's light rail transit fitness was extended to serve the southwestern edge of Aurora on November 17, 2006.
The H Line stops at Aurora's Dayton and Nine Mile Stations; a elected network of feeder buses in southern Aurora serve the latter.
An extension of light rail along I-225 through the town/city is prepared to connect with a commuter rail line between downtown Denver and Denver International Airport (DIA), both scheduled for culmination by 2017 (see Fas - Tracks).
Much of Aurora is more convenient to DIA than Denver itself.
This adjacency is a factor in the expected expansion of the E-470 corridor directly south of DIA, projected to eventually accommodate 250,000 additional Aurora residents. On February 24, 2017, the Regional Transportation District opened the R-Line that runs from the Lincoln Station in Lone Tree south of Denver, to Peoria Station in NE Denver, where riders may board the A line providing service from Union Station in downtown Denver with a several stops to Denver International Airport.
Powerlifting Raw Nationals and the IPF Open Powerlifting World Championships were both held in Aurora, Colorado.
Main article: List of citizens from Aurora, Colorado Some notable individuals who were born in or have lived in Aurora include: Aurora has a single sister city, Adama in Ethiopia, which was established in 2014 after Aurora Sister Cities International was resurrected in 2013.
Aurora had a previous sister town/city program from 1988 to 2004. Aurora Sentinel, the small-town journal State of Colorado, Department of Personnel & Administration, Colorado State Archives.
"Aurora History".
City of Aurora, Colorado.
The postal service serving 80137 is positioned in Aurora, but "Watkins" is the place name assigned to the ZIP code.
"Geographic Identifiers: 2010 Demographic Profile Data (G001): Aurora city, Colorado".
"Officials release complete list of injured victims in Aurora massacre".
"Aurora is Finally a Household Name...
Most of the headlines name-check Aurora as the site of the massacre, clean water tying it to a Denver suburb.
Climate Summary for Aurora, Colorado "Aurora (city), Colorado".
"Colorado - Race and Hispanic Origin for Selected Cities and Other Places: Earliest Enumeration to 1990".
Aurora reaching out refugee community, Denver Post, December 21, 2012.
Denver metro region home to 30,000 Ethiopians, Eritreans Archived March 4, 2014, at the Wayback Machine., Denver Post, July 29, 2013.
"Aurora Economic Development Council".
Aurora Symphony Orchestra (1999-02-22).
"Aurora Public Library".
City of Aurora.
Laura King Van Dusen, "Marie Guiraud: 1860s Pioneer, Mother of Ten, Widowed at Forty-five, Amassed One of the Largest Estates in Park County Up to 1909", Historic Tales from Park County: Parked in the Past (Charleston, South Carolina: The History Press, 2013), ISBN 978-1-62619-161-7, pp.
"Your Aurora Government" (PDF).
Aurora Government.
"Aurora Sister Cities International".
Aurora, Colorado City of Aurora official website Aurora Economic Development Council Aurora Chamber of Commerce Visit Aurora CDOT map of the City of Aurora Aurora Macaroni Kid a family friendly affairs calendar Aurora Cultural Arts District Aurora, Colorado Mayors of metros/cities with populations exceeding 100,000 in Colorado Municipalities and communities of Arapahoe County, Colorado, United States Municipalities and communities of Adams County, Colorado, United States Municipalities and communities of Douglas County, Colorado, United States
Categories:
Aurora, Colorado - Cities in Arapahoe County, Colorado - Cities in Adams County, Colorado - Cities in Colorado - Denver urbane region - Populated places established in 1891 - Cities in Douglas County, Colorado - 1891 establishments in Colorado
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