Aurora is a Home Rule
Municipality spanning Arapahoe
, Adams
, and Douglas
Counties in Colorado
.
The city
is the third most populous
city in the State of
Colorado and the 61st most populous
city in the United
States
. The city had an estimated population of
297,835 in 2007. The city and its western neighbor are the
principal cities of the
Denver-Aurora Metropolitan
Statistical Area, which in 2007 had an estimated population of
2,464,866. (
22nd most
populous MSA), the estimated population of the
Denver-Aurora-Boulder
Combined Statistical Area was 2,998,878 (
15th most populous CSA).
History
It originated in the 1880s, as the town Fletcher, taking its name
from Denver businessman
Donald
Fletcher who saw it as a real estate opportunity.
He and his partners
staked out four square miles east of Denver
, but the
town - and Colorado - struggled mightily after the Silver Crash of
1893. At that point Fletcher skipped town, leaving the
community with a huge water debt. Inhabitants decided to rename
their township Aurora in 1907, and it slowly began to grow in
Denver’s shadow becoming the fastest growing city in the United
States during the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Although Aurora has long been considered by many only as one of
Denver's larger
suburbs, its growing
population in recent decades (now over half the size of the City of
Denver) has led to efforts for co-equal recognition with its larger
neighbor. A former mayor once expressed the somewhat whimsical
notion that eventually the area would be called the "Aurora/Denver
Metropolitan Area." However, such efforts are somewhat hampered by
the lack of a large, historically important
central business district in the
city, which is largely suburban in character.
World attention focused on Aurora for seven weeks during the fall
of 1955, as President
Dwight D.
Eisenhower recovered from a
heart attack at
Fitzsimons Army Medical
Center. The hospital is also the 1943 birthplace of 2004
Democratic presidential candidate
John
Kerry. Decommissioned in 1999, the facility is part of the
Anschutz Medical Campus of
the
University of Colorado
Denver, and the Colorado Bioscience Park Aurora.
The Anschutz Medical
Campus also includes the University of Colorado Hospital
which moved to Aurora from Denver in 2007.
These facilities will employ a workforce of 32,000 at
build-out.
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. Aurora's active populace is also reflected in
the variety of professional athletes hailing from the city (see
Notable People from Aurora below). Aurora's first
semi-professional sports franchise, the
Aurora Cavalry in the
International Basketball
League, began play in 2006 but folded by seasons end due to
budget mishaps.
Aurora has always been awkwardly split between two counties and
lies distant from the respective county seats. A
consolidated city and county
government was considered in the mid-1990s but failed to win
approval by city voters. The issue 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 consolidated city and county of Aurora would
likely include areas not within the current city limits, but the
new city-county boundaries would be set, restricting future
expansion.
Geography
Entering the Aurora City Limits at
20th Avenue and Yosemite Street, looking east.
Aurora is located at (39.695887, -104.808101). The city's official
elevation, posted on signs at the city limits, is 5,471 feet (1,668
m). However, the city spans a difference in elevation of nearly .
The lowest elevation of 5,285 feet (1,611 m) is found at the point
where
Sand Creek crosses the city limit
in the northwest corner of the city, while the highest elevation of
6,229 feet (1,899 m) is on the extreme southern border of the city
in Arapahoe County, near the intersection of Inspiration and
Gartrell Roads.
According to the
United
States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of
142.7 square miles (369.7 km²), of which,
142.5 square miles (369.1 km²) of it is land and
0.2 square miles (0.6 km²) of it (0.17%) is water.
Aurora straddles
Interstate
70,
Interstate 225 and
the
E-470 beltway. The
Regional Transportation District's
light
rail transit system was extended to serve the southwestern edge
of Aurora on November 17, 2006.
The G Line and
H Line stop at Aurora's Dayton
and Nine Mile
Stations; a comprehensive network of feeder buses
in southern Aurora serve the latter. An extension of light
rail along I-225 through the city is planned to connect with a
commuter rail line between downtown Denver and Denver
International Airport
(DIA), both scheduled for completion by
2015. Much of Aurora is more convenient to DIA than Denver
itself. This proximity is a factor in the expected growth of the
E-470 corridor directly south of DIA, projected to eventually
accommodate 250,000additional Aurora residents.
Government
The Aurora City Council is composed of a mayor and ten council
members. Six members are elected from districts the other four are
elected at large. The mayor is elected by the entire city.
Neighborhoods
Aerial view of Fitzsimons Army
Hospital in Aurora before closure.
Aurora is composed of dozens of neighborhoods, districts and
(current and former) military installations. Among them:
- Aurora Heights
- Aurora Highlands
- Aurora Hills
- Aurora Knolls
- Beacon Point
- Brookvale
- Buckley Air Force Base
- Chaddsford Village
- Chambers Heights
- Chelsea
- Corning
- Crestridge
- Cross Creek
- The Dam East
- Del Mar
- The Dam
West
- Eastridge
-
Fitzsimons Campus
- Greenfield
- Hallcraft's Village East
- Havana Heights
- Heritage at Eagle Bend
- Highpoint
- Hillside at Del Mar
- Hoffman Heights
- Hutchinson Heights
- Jackson Farm
- Kingsborough
- Lowry Campus (formerly
Lowry Air
Force Base
)
- Meadowood Meadowood
- Mission Viejo Mission Viejo
- Morris Heights
- Murphy Creek
- Original Aurora (the Fletcher
townsite, Aurora's "downtown")
- Peoria Park
- Pheasant Run
- Piney Creek
- Ptarmigan Park
- Queensborough
- Saddle Rock
- Settler's Village
- Serenity Ridge
- Seven Hills
- Sienna
- Stapleton
(a portion of the redevelopment of Denver's former airport lies in
Aurora, directly north of Original Aurora)
- Smoky Hill 400
- Smoky Ridge
- Sterling Hills
- Stricker's House
- Summer Valley Ranch
- Tallgrass
- The Timbers
- Tollgate Run at Kingsborough
- Tollgate Village
- Tuscany
- Village East
- Waters Edge
- Wheatlands
- Woodgate
- Woodrim
Demographics
As of the
census of 2000, there were 276,393
people, 105,625 households, and 68,867 families residing in the
city. The
population density was
1,939.6 people per square mile (748.9/km²). There were 109,260
housing units at an average density of 766.7/sq mi
(296.0/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 48.9%
White, 33.4%
African American, 0.8%
Native American, 4.4%
Asian, 0.2%
Pacific Islander, 8.1% from
other races, and 4.2%
from two or more races.
Hispanic or
Latino of any race were 19.8% of the
population.
There were 105,625 households out of which 35.5% had children under
the age of 18 living with them, 46.9% were
married couples living together, 13.1% had a female
householder with no husband present, and 34.8% were non-families.
27.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 5.7% had
someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average
household size was 2.60 and the average family size was 3.19.
In the city the population was spread out with 27.6% under the age
of 18, 10.1% from 18 to 24, 34.7% from 25 to 44, 20.2% from 45 to
64, and 7.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was
32 years. For every 100 females there were 98.1 males. For every
100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.8 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $46,507, and the
median income for a family was $52,551. Males had a median income
of $35,963 versus $30,080 for females. The
per capita income for the city was
$21,095. About 6.8% of families and 8.9% of the population were
below the
poverty line, including 12.0%
of those under age 18 and 6.1% of those age 65 or over.
Economy
Mexicana de Aviación
operates an office at 12134 East Mississippi Avenue.
Education
Notable people from Aurora
Kakums - Youtube celebrity
Sister cities
- The Sister Cities
International and its Home Page does not verify the 3 cities
below. Time stamp: August 17, 2009, 11:13AM
MDT
In
addition, the Denver Regional Council of Governments (consisting of
the city and 51 other local governments) has established a "sister
city" relationship with the Baghdad Governorate
, one of Iraq
's eighteen
provinces.
Surrounding municipalities
See also
References
External links
, Centennial
, Parker
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