Aurora Town Historian

06/02/2026

06/01/2026

1909 MAP OF EAST AURORA...A local resident recently asked the Historian's Office, "What year is the map on the tables at Charlie's Diner."

The map depicted on the tabletops is from 1909. It comes from the New Century Atlas of Erie County, New York, published that year by the Century Map Company.

Several copies of the atlas are preserved in the archives of the Aurora Town Historian's Office, and we've added a digital version of the map to our website: https://www.townofaurorany.gov/departments/historian/whats-archives/historic-maps/ .tab=0

05/29/2026

05/29/2026

1926 SENIOR CLASS OFFICERS...A recent donation to the archives of the Aurora Town Historian's Office included this 100-year-old photograph of the East Aurora High School 1926 senior class officers. Left to right, Treasurer Robert Erskine, President Miriam Rosen, Secretary Marian Webster, and Vice President Howard Zintz. They are pictured outside the then-High School at Main and North Grove Streets, which is today the East Aurora Middle School. The Johnson house, which stood where the school courtyard is today, can be seen in the background.

Several thousand documents and photographs from East Aurora's graduating classes dating back to the first in 1887 are preserved in the archives of the Aurora Town Historian's Office.

05/28/2026

THE CIRCLE IS 90 YEARS OLD...This month marks the 90th anniversary of the traffic circle at East Aurora's West End. It was constructed as part of a Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) project that also widened Main Street in 1936. Before that, the intersection, known officially as Willink Square to match the name of village that once surrounded it, consisted of a series of grass triangles.

05/27/2026

THE COMMUNITY POOL UNDER CONSTRUCTION...Preserved in the archives of the Aurora Town Historian's Office are hundreds of photographs of the Community Pool, including these of its construction 60 years ago.

This week is your last chance to see our current featured exhibition, "Sixty Years of Swimming: Building a 'Community' Pool."

In celebration of the pool's 60th anniversary this summer, we've gathered from the archives of the Aurora Town Historian's Office and the Town of Aurora Recreation Department original documents, newspaper clippings, photographs and artifacts related to the planning and building of our Community Pool. The exhibit will be on display through this Friday, May 29, the day before the Community Pool opens for its anniversary season!

This and other historical exhibits may be viewed outside the Historian's Office at the Municipal Canter, 575 Oakwood Avenue, during regular Municipal Center hours, Monday-Friday, 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.

05/25/2026

MEMORIAL DAY 90 YEARS AGO...In 1936, with only four Civil War veterans remaining in its membership, the Author Smith Post of the Grand Army of the Republic, which had organized East Aurora's Memorial Day observances since the 1880s, transferred responsibility of the annual commemoration to East Aurora Post 362 -The American Legion and VFW Post 205. East Aurora's five remaining Civil War veterans were featured in the newspaper the previous year, before the death of G.A.R. Commander John B. Buffum.

The Memorial Day commemoration in 1941 was the last to include an East Aurora Civil War veteran. James B Pattengell died the following February, and George A. Edwards, East Aurora's last Civil War veteran, died just eight days before Memorial Day 1942.

(Article from the May 14, 1936 issue of the East Aurora Advertiser, in the archives of the Aurora Town Historian's Office).

05/22/2026

EAST AURORA'S EARLY MEMORIAL DAYS...Clippings of the East Aurora Advertiser in the archives of the Aurora Town Historian's Office offer insight into the earliest Decoration (Memorial) Day commemorations in East Aurora. After an elaborate observance in 1878, the community failed to officially mark the occasion in 1879 and 1880:

"--Decoration Day.
--Next week Friday.
--Aurora will not decorate."

Decoration/Memorial Day ceremonies became a more reliable annual event in the 1880s, under the auspices of the Grand Army of the Republic, an organization of Civil War veterans. The GAR organized the annual parade and cemetery observance until 1936, when the aging Civil War veterans turned the responsibility over to East Aurora Post 362 -The American Legion and VFW Post 205, who continue to organize the community's Memorial Day commemoration today, 90 years later.

05/21/2026

13TH ANNUAL FIELD DAY...100 years ago today (May 21, 1926) a few thousand students, teachers and parents from across the region gathered in Hamlin Park for the 13th annual Field Day. Field Day started as a “simple” event in 1914, with about 1,500 attendees traveling to East Aurora for a day of competition and entertainment. However, within just a few years its became a major event in the village, eventually drawing an estimated 4,000 each spring for a giant parade down Main Street and to the baseball diamond in Hamlin Park. Students from more than 50 schools, most of the one-room variety, in the five area towns that comprised Erie County’s Third Supervisory District—Aurora, Wales, Orchard Park, Elma and Marilla— prepared for months for the annual competitions. World War II brought an end to the annual tradition; the last one was held in 1942.

Preserved in the archives of the Aurora Town Historian's Office are hundreds of photographs and newspaper clippings from Field Days over the years. Here are a few images of the 1926 event from the Historian's Office archives, including athletic competitions and demonstrations in front of the giant Grandstand that once stood behind home plate in Hamlin Park. The 1926 event was extra special due to the attendance of New York State Education Commissioner Frank P. Graves, pictured speaking to the crowd.

05/20/2026

THE 'FUTURE' COMMUNITY POOL...A 1960s rendering of the "future" Community Pool by Fontanese and Halfpenny, architects, is among the artifacts featured in our current featured exhibition, "Sixty Years of Swimming: Building a 'Community' Pool."

In celebration of the pool's 60th anniversary this summer, stop by the Aurora Municipal Center to explore from the archives of the Aurora Town Historian's Office and the Town of Aurora Recreation Department original documents, newspaper clippings, photographs and artifacts related to the planning and building of our Community Pool, which opened for swimming in August 1966. The exhibit will be on display through May 29.

This and other historical exhibits may be viewed outside the Historian's Office at the Municipal Canter, 575 Oakwood Avenue, during regular Municipal Center hours, Monday-Friday, 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.