Aurora Historic Sites Tour

An informative, 9-stop driving tour you can use to explore historic Aurora!

Tour Information
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Aurora Historic Sites Tour

Aurora, Indiana 47001, United States

Created By: Test Run

Tour Information

Hello!
This tour was created by the Archaeological Research Institute (based in Lawrenceburg, IN). It is both a template and experiment, created in pursuit of the Indiana Humanities Preservation Education Grant. The goals of this project include: to connect with the local community and increase awareness of culturally and historically significant sites in Dearborn County, to present Dearborn County AS a culturally and historically significant place, to give users a spatial sense of relationships between sites and across time, to encourage tourism and visits to Dearborn County historical sites, and to incentivize preservation and conservation of historic and prehistoric sites in the area through education, increased foot traffic, and economic growth.
We hope you find this tour useful and informative!


Tour Map

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What You'll See on the Tour

Welcome to the first stop on our tour! The George Street Bridge, also known as County Bridge # 159 or Aurora Bridge, was built in 1887 by Lomas Forge & Bridge Works of Cincinnati, Ohio, the same company responsible for the construction ... Read more
Welcome to Site #2 on our tour! The Aurora Public Library began as a collection of books housed in a local jewelry store. Prior to 1901, this collection was called the McClure Library. When the Aurora Public Library Association was formed, ... Read more
Site #3 on our tour is the Aurora Depot! This humble depot actually began as a two-room cabin which acted as both living quarters and trading post for Scottish immigrant, John Gillis. Mr. Gillis, after coming to American in 1756 and serving... Read more
Welcome to Site #4! This broad historic district encompasses 272 buildings and covers about 100 acres of property, bounded by Importing, Water, Market, Fifth, and Exporting Streets. The district developed between about 1830 and 1944, and in... Read more
Welcome to the Aurora City Hall, stop #5 on our tour! This impressive building was constructed in two phases by architects Louis Kreite and the McDonald Brothers. The earlier section (1870) is a two-story, Italianate style brick and stone b... Read more
Stop #6 is the Hillforest House Museum! This building, also known as the Thomas Gaff House, overlooks the Ohio river and sits upon a beatiful 6.9 acre estate. Hillforest was the home of industrialist and financier Thomas Gaff and his family... Read more
Our next site is the First Evangelical United Church of Christ! Also known as the Fifth Street Church and German Reformed Church, this building was originally constructed in 1848 as the second church of the Aurora Baptists. Its Gothic Reviv... Read more
Welcome to our next stop, the Laughery Creek Bridge! This 300-foot bridge, built by the Wrought Iron Bridge Company in1878, is a particularly interesting landmark. It is an example of a triple intersection Whipple through truss, a variation... Read more
Our final stop is the Veraestau Historic Site, which is also Indiana Landmark’s southeast field office! The name “Veraestau” comes from the Latin words for spring, summer, and fall (no winter allowed!). The house and its 148-acre esta... Read more

 

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