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 Seats for Forklifts Aurora - The city of Aurora is the 112th largest US city and the 2nd biggest in the state of Illinois. The city of Aurora serves as a suburb for the city of Chicago and is located some 64 km or 40 miles west of "the Loop." According to records, in the year 2010 the population was 197,899. Aurora City was originally founded within Kane County. During the last 50 years, the city limits have greatly expanded and now they spill over into Will, DuPage and Kendall Counties. The county of Kendall was considered to be the fastest growing county in the United States in 2010.
The original settlement of Aurora was founded by Joseph and Samuel McCarty in the year 1837, and was called McCarty Mills. As soon as it merged with the nearby town of West Aurora during the year 1857, the two communities amalgamated as one. Called the "City of Lights," the city of Aurora became the first city within the United States to utilize electric lights in the year 1881 for lighting all of the streets in the city.
The city of Aurora was home to 6 various car companies in parts of the early 1900s. These businesses eventually closed operations and folded. A strong part of the economy of the city has been manufacturing and this was an important trade during years of the Depression and both WWI and WWII. In the 1970s and 1980s, various factories started closing, forcing the city to explore alternate sources of revenue.
Aurora welcomed a riverboat casino into the city's downtown core area and development around nearby residential communities and likewise the casino started to flourish. The Hollywood Casino is a dockside gaming facility with 1200 gaming options within a 53,000 square foot building. As its namesake, the casino houses the original memorabilia from films like Wayne's World, The FBI Story The Blues Brothers, Misery, The Natural and Titanic among others.
Aurora's downtown core is situated along the Fox River. In the year 2011, the city started a large-scale redevelopment plant to be able to renovate the underdeveloped Stolp Island business district. Along the Fox River there are plans to build approximately 6000 housing units.
Some of the most remarkable architectural collections in the American Midwest can be found within the city of Aurora. The city of Aurora features buildings by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Bruce Goff, George Grant Elmslie and Frank Lloyd Wright.
Located at the edge of Illinois City's Technology and Research Corridor. Aurora shares the area's long standing history of manufacturing, comprising some of the city's main manufacturers, such as: Barber Greene Ltd, Lyon Workspace Products, the Chicago Corset Company, the Aurora Silverplate Manufacturing Company, Caterpillar Inc., Western Wheeled Scraper Works that eventually became Austin-Western Inc, the Aurora Brewing Company, national Metalwares and Allsteel Metals. The most popular industry and employer was the Chicago Burlington and Quincy Railroad, this eventually became Burlington Northern and they held their headquarters within the city of Aurora.
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