10 Interesting Facts About Aurora, Illinois

I moved from Jefferson Park (think somewhat "the city" area of Chicago) to Aurora, Illinois about four years ago. The move to the burbs happened for two main reasons: affordable home ownership and proximity to my work.

At first I thought there was not much more to Aurora than associations, chain stores and the downtown casino boat. But there is more to Aurora than first meets the eye. Without giving you the typical run down of the factual information you can find on the city's web page (ok, I will actually give you some of those but only because they are really good ones), I offer you these ten interesting facts about Aurora (in no particular order).

1. Aurora is the City of Lights. Don't mistake this with the casino spectacular. The city holds this name because it was the first in the United States to use electric street lighting throughout the entire city.
2. Believe it or not, Aurora is the second largest city in the state of Illinois. The city extends over four counties: DuPage, Will, Kendall and Kane. The last reported Census records mark the city's population at over 160,000.
3. The city has four historical districts. Four! From the Paramount Theater to its own zoo, Aurora is the place to visit for landmarks and entertainment.
4. George Bush visited Aurora in 2006. He is the second president of the United States to ever visit Aurora. The first was Theodore Roosevelt.
5. The city has five television and three radio stations.
6. The city is a home to four well-known gangs: Latin Kings, Insane Deuces, Vice Lords, and Gangster Disciples. It's worth noting that the city crime rate has declined drastically since 2002.
7. Vernon Parrington, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author for his Main Currents in American Thought, is from Aurora. So is Nicole Narain, Playboy's Miss January 2002.
8. Wayne's World was filmed in Aurora in 1992. You'll laugh. You'll cry. You'll hurl.
9. Aurora has its own Cranium MeetUp.com group. There is absolutely nothing wrong with folks getting together and enjoying a kick-butt trivia and board game!
10. In the late 1800s, Aurora was well known for producing women's undergarments. More specifically, the Chicago Corset Company was located in Aurora and was the second largest company of its kind in the world. It employed over 500 women and produced over two million corsets annually. Victoria's Secret folks would have had some serious competition.

Sources:

IMDb.com, Wayne's World movie page, www.imdb.com/title/tt0105793

MeetUp.com

City of Aurora web page, http://www.aurora-il.org/

Aurora Area web page, http://www.enjoyaurora.com/

Wikipedia, http://www.wikipedia.org/