History of Aurora ON

Aurora, ON is a small charming community located centrally within the famous York Region. The Town also lies along Southern Ontario’s most developed region-the Golden Horseshoe. With its population of around 60, 00 residents, Aurora is among the top 100 largest metropolitans in the entire nations. The town is also reportedly ranked among Canada’s top 10 richest towns.

The very first move that is considered the primary step in the emergence of what is today known as the Town of Aurora was the order of the extension of Yonge Street by John Graves Simcoe in 1793 when he was the Governor. The Street was fully opened by 1796; just a year after the very first house in the area was built at the crossing of Catherine Avenue and Yonge Street. The local administration started issuing deeds in the late 1790s and a few years later, fourteen homes had already been built.

Following the slowly rising population, Richard Machell established a merchant shop at Yonge’s and Wellington’s intersection in 1804 and Aurora which was then a simple hamlet became a popular trading destination under the name Machell’s Corners. The current name, Aurora, only came into being after Charles Doan; another pioneer businessman within Aurora became the postmaster and later on the first administrator or Reeve. Though the initial name of the post office was “Whitchurch”, Doan helped rename it along with the now well-established village to Aurora, after a famous goddess Roman mythological goddess. Although Machell made an effort to have the name Aurora changed to “Match-Ville” in favor of a local match factory. Machell’s proposition was dismissed due to the increased popularity of “Aurora” and eventually, it became the town’s name.

Several mills were established within Aurora by the late 1820s and when the railway came along in the early 1850s, the town became a very popular center of trade and commerce. Following the 1863 official incorporation of Aurora as a village under the leadership of Charles Doan, the local population grew steadily and the community was given the tag of the nation’s largest village and one of the greatest commercial hubs. The village’s population went as high as 2,107 residents by 1888.

Aurora prides itself in being home to several famous Canadians including the late Lester B. Pearson who served as Canada’s prime minister for 5 years among others. It is also popular for its maintaining its historical rural build and a small town’s charm, a feature that has made the Town as the recipient of several honorary awards for the conservation of the authenticity and heritage of the town.