Aurora, MO

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Welcome to the City of Aurora, Missouri. Located in the heart of Southwest Missouri Aurora is just miles away from Branson, Springfield, Joplin, beautiful area lakes such as Table Rock and Stockton and the Mark Twain National Forest.

The Honey Creek area, near Aurora, Missouri was originally settled by pioneers from Tennessee, including James D. Hillhouse, E. B. Hillhouse, Reverend A. A. Young, James Barrow and James Gibson. They were later instrumental in founding Aurora. Their descendants include actor Brad Pitt and novelist and national security analyst Raelynn Hillhouse.

Aurora was platted in 1870 by Stephen G. Elliott. It was reportedly named after Aurora, the Roman goddess of dawn.

Galena ore was discovered in 1885 while digging a well on the farm of Thomas D. Liles in November, 1885, marking the beginning of Aurora as a mining town. Mining of surface outcrops began in 1886. Large scale commercial mining began shortly afterwards as the mines grew deeper and zinc and galena were discovered. The zinc from the Aurora mines was of exceptional purity and high grade. By 1893 12,651 tons of zinc ore were mined and shipped from Aurora. The mines attracted prospectors and minors. Aurora's population peaked at 10,000 around 1900.

The Frisco Railroad (now Burlington Northern-Santa Fe) and the Missouri Pacific (now Union Pacific) previously had depots in Aurora. The train master for the Missouri Pacific Railroad's White River division was headquartered in Aurora until the mid-1950s.

Between 1911 and 1920, the virulently anti-Catholic newspaper The Menace was published in Aurora by W. F. Phelps and Earl McClure. In 1914 it achieved a national circulation of over one million, according to the March 1932 issue of American Mercury.

The Lewis Shaw Coleman House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2016.

Today, Aurora is known as "The Summit City of the Ozarks". Located on a high plateau (1,434 ft. above sea level) in the state's southwest corner from which one can gradually descend into the Ozark Mountains. As one of the oldest mountain ranges in the United States, the Ozark Mountains retains its wilderness character, rugged, diverse and always delightful. This beauty surrounds Aurora.