Aurora Village-Wells College Historic District

Aurora Village–Wells College Historic District
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. Historic district
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Location	Aurora, New York
Coordinates	42°45′1″N 76°42′0″W / 42.75028°N 76.70000°W / 42.75028; -76.70000Coordinates: 42°45′1″N 76°42′0″W / 42.75028°N 76.70000°W / 42.75028; -76.70000
Built	1793
Architect	Davis, A. J.; Downing, A. J.; et al.
Architectural style	Mid-19th Century Revival, Early Republic, Late Victorian
NRHP Reference #	80002595
Added to NRHP	November 19, 1980

The historic village of Aurora, Cayuga County, New York, rises on a hill above the eastern shore of Cayuga Lake. The village was named by Captain Benjamin Ledyard, who settled there in 1793, in the post-Revolutionary development of the Finger Lakes region. Up until the mid-nineteenth century, Aurora played an important part in the history of Central New York.

County seat for first Onondaga County and later Cayuga County, the village was also a leading market town in the region. A steam-powered flour mill was built in 1817, the first of its kind west of Albany, contributing to Aurora's importance as a commercial center. Aurora was a major shipping point for goods bound up the Lake and through the Erie Canal, until the canal's role was replaced by railroads in the mid-19th century.

Its significant business entrepreneurs included men such as Henry Wells, founder of American Express and Wells Fargo, whose operations created new express mail and banking services that spanned New York state and reached to the developing state of California. Having earned capital in shipping and trade, Edwin Barber Morgan invested with Wells and served as a director for Wells Fargo for years. In addition, Morgan founded the United States Express Company, which provided express mail to the South, and he was an important early investor in the New York Times. They and other successful men built ambitious grand houses in the village, an architectural legacy which has contributed to its significance.

With wealth, Aurora's capitalists supported education. Wells founded Wells Seminary, later Wells College, in 1868, starting Aurora's second period of historic significance. Morgan also supported the college.

In 1980, the Aurora Village–Wells College Historic District was entered on the National Register of Historic Places.