Aurora, Colorado
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Elevation       5,471 ft (1,648 m)     
Population (2005)              
- Total 297,235
               
Third most populous Colorado city              
Website: City of Aurora        
The City of Aurora is a Home Rule Municipality that is the third most populous city in the State of Colorado and the 59th most populous city in the United States, with an estimated population of 297,235 in 2005.[5] The municipality is split between Arapahoe County and Adams County, with a small portion lying in Douglas County. The city and its western neighbor are the principal cities of the Denver-Aurora Metropolitan Statistical Area. In 2005, the estimated population of the Denver-Aurora Metropolitan Statistical Area was 2,359,994 (22nd most populous MSA),[6] the estimated population of the Denver-Aurora-Boulder Combined Statistical Area was 2,869,377 (15th most populous CSA),[7] and the estimated population of the Front Range Urban Corridor was 4,013,055.[6]

History
In 1891, Donald Fletcher founded the town of Fletcher on the plains east of Denver, naming the town after himself. The real estate tycoon left two years later, leaving the new residents with bond payments for non-existent water. The town was renamed Aurora (Latin for dawn) in 1907, and remained a small community until after World War II. Postwar suburban development transformed the town into what became the fastest growing city in the United States during the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Although Aurora has long been considered by many only as one of Denver's larger suburbs, its growing population in recent decades (now over half the size of the City of Denver) has led to efforts for co-equal recognition with its larger neighbor. A former mayor once expressed the somewhat whimsical notion that eventually the area would be called the "Aurora/Denver Metropolitan Area." However, such efforts are somewhat hampered by the lack of a large, historically important central business district in the city, which is largely suburban in character.

World attention focused on Aurora for seven weeks during the fall of 1955, as President Dwight D. Eisenhower recovered from a heart attack at Fitzsimons Army Medical Center. The hospital is also the 1943 birthplace of 2004 Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry. Decommissioned in 1999, the facility is now under redevelopment as the campus of the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center and Hospital, which are relocating there from Denver, and the Colorado Bioscience Park Aurora. These facilities will employ a workforce of 32,000 at build-out.

In 2004, Aurora was honored as the Sports Illustrated magazine's 50th Anniversary "Sportstown" for Colorado because of its exemplary involvement in facilitating and enhancing sports. Aurora's active populace is also reflected in the variety of professional athletes hailing from the city (see Notable People from Aurora below). Aurora's first semi-professional sports franchise, the Aurora Cavalry in the International Basketball League, began play in 2006 but folded by seasons end due to budget mishaps.[citation needed]

Aurora has always been awkwardly split between two counties (more recently, three counties) and lies distant from the respective county seats. A consolidated city and county government was considered in the mid-1990s but failed to win approval by city voters. The issue was reconsidered in 2006. [1] Colorado voters created the City and County of Denver in 1902 and the City and County of Broomfield in 2001. A consolidated city and county of Aurora would likely include areas not within the current city limits, but the new city-county boundaries would be set, restricting future expansion.

Geography
The city's official elevation, posted on signs at the city limits, is 5,471 feet (1,668 m). However, the city spans a difference in elevation of nearly 1,000 feet. The lowest elevation of 5,285 feet (1,611 m) is found at the point where Sand Creek crosses the city limit in the northwest corner of the city, while the highest elevation of 6,229 feet (1,899 m) is on the extreme southern border of the city in Douglas County, near the intersection of Inspiration and Gartrell Roads.[2]

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 142.7 square miles (369.7 km²), of which, 142.5 square miles (369.1 km²) of it is land and 0.2 square miles (0.6 km²) of it (0.17%) is water.

Aurora straddles Interstate 70, Interstate 225 and the E-470 beltway. The Regional Transportation District's light rail transit system was extended to serve the southwestern edge of Aurora on November 17, 2006. The G Line and H Line stop at Aurora's Dayton and Nine Mile Stations; a comprehensive network of feeder buses in southern Aurora serve the latter. An extension of light rail along I-225 through the city is planned to connect with a commuter rail line between downtown Denver and Denver International Airport (DIA), both scheduled for completion by 2015. Much of Aurora is more convenient to DIA than Denver itself. This proximity is a factor in the expected growth of the E-470 corridor directly south of DIA, projected to eventually accommodate 250,000 additional Aurora residents.

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