Blood & Biohazard Cleanup Near Exposition View Aurora, IL

Aurora is the second-most populous city in Illinois after Chicago, with 180,542 residents at the 2020 census, and it is the most populous city in Illinois that is not a county seat.

Aurora was settled in 1834 on the Fox River by the McCarty brothers, who built mills on the riverbanks, and a post office established in 1837 officially created the town, named for the Roman goddess of dawn.

Aurora was incorporated as a village in 1845 and as a city in 1857, growing into the main economic center of the Fox Valley region.

Aurora adopted the nickname 'City of Lights' in 1908 because in 1881 it was one of the first cities in the United States to install an all-electric street lighting system.

Although Aurora is rooted in Kane County, its city limits have expanded into DuPage, Kendall, and Will counties, making it one of only three Illinois cities that span four counties.

Aurora's historic downtown is centered on Stolp Island in the Fox River, and the city is traditionally divided into the West Side, the East Side, and the Far East Side.

Census Bureau survey data counts about 61,300 households in Aurora, averaging about 2.9 people per household.

The first free public school district in Illinois was established in Aurora in 1851, and a high school for girls followed four years later.

Downtown's Paramount Theatre, a lavish Art Deco movie palace that opened in 1931 on Stolp Island and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, seats more than 1,800 people and stages Broadway-style productions.

Phillips Park Zoo, inside Aurora's Phillips Park, has been open since 1915 and remains a free, year-round zoo focused on North American animals.