Op-ed: Why doesn’t Aurora have a downtown?

Article by J. Kudley, director of the Aurora Historical Society & Museum

Driving through the “center of town” have you ever taken the time to gaze upon Aurora’s “village green,” the grassy area in front of The Church in Aurora and town hall? Or are you too busy focusing on the traffic lights at the y-intersection of 306 and 43, trying to avoid the cars in the wrong lane suddenly? Certainly, visitors to Aurora do not realize that they just drove through Aurora’s “downtown.” The heart of Colonial New England villages was the town square around which were small shops, meeting house, and common grazing ground. This pattern was replicated throughout the Western Reserve and can be seen in communities like Hudson. So, why does Aurora not have a “Town Center”?

Aurora’s development focused on four centers of social and economic activity. In the middle of the village was “Aurora Center” distinguished by three buildings, Townhall, the Congregational Church and the Central School House, which sat upon the small rise where routes 43 and 306 converge. South along Chillicothe Road was Harmon & Sons store (Wayside Shop) and cheese warehouse (Secret Garden) and a doctor’s office (Mad Jack’s). Located within walking distances to the north were the homes of Aurora’s “Cheese Barons.”

Aurora Station on East Garfield was the major commercial and “industrial” center. There Frank Treat and A.B. Hurd operated stores. There were cheese factories, cabinet and furniture maker, blacksmith, wagon maker, lumber mill, and violin maker. It was from the station that cheese produced in Aurora and surrounding communities was shipped to markets across the country and overseas.

Centerville Mills at Crackle Road and 306, was another center of economic activity with a gristmill, sawmill, blacksmith shop, and rake factory. Because of its proximity to Bainbridge those who lived and worked in the area had social contacts with both Bainbridge and Aurora.

In the northwest corner of Aurora was Geauga Lake. The community there first developed as collection of small summer cottages frequented by those visiting Giles Pond, better known as Geauga Lake. The early economic development of the area was focused around the support of a small “picnic lake park,” which by the 1880s had become a flourishing amusement park. The area along Route 43 had small businesses in support of the park along with seven bars that dotted the area from East Boulevard to the Solon City limits. Following World War II, cottages were converted into year-round homes.

So, as you drive by The Church in Aurora or get hung up in the morning school buses and commuter traffic along Route 43, or you are waiting for the lights to change at the corner of Pioneer Trail, remember that you are in “Aurora’s Town Center.” Within short walking distance are schools, a church, City Hall, parks, restaurants, a school of music, a library and Aurora’s “best kept secret” the Aurora Historical Society & Museum. While Aurora lacks a quaint New England town square, those who live in Aurora will boast that Aurora does have that “small town” feeling of community.