Aurora, Cayuga County, New York
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- NOTE: There is another Aurora, a town, in Erie County, New York
Aurora is a village in Cayuga County, New York, United States. The population was 720 at the 2000 census.
The Village of Aurora is in the Town of Ledyard and is north of Ithaca, NY.
An institution of higher education for women founded in 1868, Wells College, is in this village. The college became coeducational in 2005, amid ([1]) protests from both alumnae and students.
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[edit] History
[edit] Early history
Prior to American settlement, a major Cayuga village, Chonodote, stood very near to the present-day site of Aurora village. Chonodote was destroyed by the Sullivan Expedition in 1779. Some of the Cayuga returned after the ward to live on a reservation that once included the north end of Cayuga Lake. Part of the village was within the Central New York Military Tract.
The village was a stopping point for canal traffic after the Cayuga-Seneca Canal opened.
The village was incorporated in 1837.
[edit] Residents of note
Aurora was home to:
- Henry Wells, founder of Wells-Fargo and the American Express Company
- Congressman Edwin B. Morgan, a founder of the New York Times.
- Painter, sculptor, printer, and typographer Victor Hammer.
- Writer, poet and professor Robert P. T. Coffin.
- First Lady of the United States and Wells College alumna Frances Folsom Cleveland.
- Prominent anthropologist and Wells College alumna Laura Nader.
[edit] Controversy regarding village development
Since 2001, the village has been in the middle of a controversy related to the destruction and redesign of buildings named in the National Register of Historic Places and the control of its village center by wealthy developer and Wisconsin resident Pleasant Rowland. Some villagers have resisted the attempt by Rowland, a Wells '62 alumna and the creator of the American Girl Doll Company, to change Aurora into her ideal of a picture perfect village.
The controversy received national media attention, with features stories about the tiny village's struggle appearing in the New York Times, the Chronicle of Higher Education, the National Trust's Preservation Magazine and broadcast on National Public Radio's Morning Edition. The ongoing story inspired a novel by prominent author J. Robert Lennon entitled Happyland, which began running in Harper's Magazine in serial form in July 2006.
[edit] Geography
Aurora is located at (42.746782, -76.699442)GR1.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of 2.5 km² (1.0 mi²), all land.
The Village of Aurora is in the Town of Ledyard on the east shore of Cayuga Lake. Long Point State Park is south of the village.
New York State Route 90, a north-south highway, passes through the village.
[edit] Demographics
As of the censusGR2 of 2000, there were 720 people, 181 households, and 106 families residing in the village. The population density was 289.6/km² (750.4/mi²). There were 225 housing units at an average density of 90.5/km² (234.5/mi²). The racial makeup of the village was 91.53% White, 1.81% African American, 0.28% Native American, 3.06% Asian, 1.39% from other races, and 1.94% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.94% of the population.
There were 181 households out of which 28.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 50.3% were married couples living together, 7.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 41.4% were non-families. 34.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 18.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.33 and the average family size was 3.10.
In the village the population was spread out with 13.2% under the age of 18, 46.1% from 18 to 24, 14.6% from 25 to 44, 15.1% from 45 to 64, and 11.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 22 years. For every 100 females there were 37.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 31.0 males.
The median income for a household in the village was $57,222, and the median income for a family was $64,583. Males had a median income of $31,667 versus $32,250 for females. The per capita income for the village was $17,526. About 1.8% of families and 4.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 4.5% of those under age 18 and 5.4% of those age 65 or over.
