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Aurora, city, Kane and DuPage counties, northeastern Illinois, U.S. It lies on the Fox River, about 40 miles (65 km) west of Chicago. Founded in 1834 by settlers from New York, it was originally known as McCarty’s Mills. A trading point and mill site near a Potawatomi Indian village, the town was laid out in 1836 and renamed Aurora in 1837. It developed as both a residential and an industrial city largely because of its...