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AURORA,
TEXAS
Wise County, North
Central Texas
Highway 114
10 miles SE of Decatur
Population:
623 (1990)
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Aurora Cemetery
Photo courtesy Barclay Gibson, February 2007 |
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History in
a Pecan Shell
Settlement of the area began in the late 1850s. The pastoral beauty
of the place impressed a man named William Stanfield enough to name
it after the Roman Goddess of Dawn.
The town became
a trading center for the first twenty years of its existence and
a post office was granted in 1873.Within 10 years Aurora could boast
two schools, two hotels, two gins, and a population that may have
been as high as 3,000.
A spotted fever
epidemic in late 1888 practically evacuated the town by 1889 and
the Fort Worth and Denver City Railroad which was due to arrive
in 1891 chose nearby Rhome for their depot instead of Aurora. The
town was heading downhill fast.
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A
tombstone in Aurora Cemetery
TE Photo, 2-04 |
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In 1897, a local
cotton buyer wrote a story about a crashed airship near Aurora.
What makes this story different from other sightings was the recovery
of “a little green man” (who didn’t survive the crash) and was buried
in the Aurora cemetery. “Airship” sightings were frequent in the
late 1890s and there had been several sightings in and around Fort
Worth. The story,
now over a hundred and seven years old has carved a place for tiny
Aurora in Texas folklore. (See Readers'
Forum)
See James Choron’s
report of the Aurora Incident >
By 1901 postal service was rerouted and the Aurora post office closed.
It might have become a ghost town if not for the 1939 construction
of State Highway 114. Aurora today still retains the rolling terrain
and the picturesque cemetery is just south of the highway – just
follow the signs.
© John Troesser
Aurora
Area Hotels - Book Here & Save
Decatur
Hotels
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Aurora Texas
Forum
Subject:
Aurora, Texas alien
I am the great-great-great granddaughter of Finis Dudley Beauchamp.
Dudley is the person who donated the family cemetery to the town
of Aurora. My great grandmother, Robbie Reynolds, was the 91 year
old person that so many of the online articles mention as having
been interviewed in the 1970's.
As much as I wish the whole story were true, the fact of the matter
is, it's not. My great-grandmother and I were very close. She said
that the whole story was a hoax, and the original interview included
that. I'm not sure how the story went from her saying it was a hoax
to the story that her parents went to check out the situation, and
wouldn't allow her to go. In your
article you mention that most people of the time were illiterate.
I know for sure that my great-grandmother and her mother and father
could read and write very well. I also know that Robbie Townsend,
the woman for whom my great grandmother was named, was a teacher.
I know the truth isn't nearly as cool as the stories that have been
told for the last 100 years. I just wanted to set the story straight.
- Sincerely, Robbie Fields, El Paso, Texas, April 09, 2005
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