Aurora Town Historian

06/08/2026

CEMENT ROAD...The E.E. Godfrey & Co. of Elm Street provided the cement for the paving of Big Tree Road between East Aurora and Wales Center 100 years ago this month. "Few people realize the great quantity of cement used in laying a concrete roadway," the East Aurora Advertiser reported.

(Article from the June 3, 1926 issue of the East Aurora Advertiser, preserved in the archives of the Aurora Town Historian's Office).

06/05/2026

THE LITTLE RESTAURANT AT MAIN AND ELM...Yesterday we shared a menu from the restaurant that once stood on the corner of Main and Elm Streets. Built by Sherman Bunell in 1935, the diner was known by several other names after his death in 1938, including Richard's Restaurant, Cox's, Lorenzo's Coffee Shop and Cocktail Lounge, and the Village Kitchen. After the building was moved to Riley Street in 1964 to make way for a gas station parking lot, it later became the Dutch Haus and is today home to Arriba Tortilla. Preserved in the archives of the Aurora Town Historian's Office are several photographs of the building throughout the years.

06/04/2026

RICHARD'S RESTAURANT...Preserved in the archives of the Aurora Town Historian's Office are menus from numerous long-gone East Aurora restaurants. A recent donation included this undated menu from Richard's Restaurant, which was one of several names over the years of the diner that stood on the southeast corner of Main and Elm Streets. In 1964, the building was moved to the parking lot on Riley Street to make way for a gas station parking lot. The building is now home to Arriba Tortilla restaurant.

06/03/2026

TODAY IS WORLD BICYCLE DAY...and to mark the occasion, we share from the archives of the Aurora Town Historian's Office this late-1800s image of the Aurora Cycle Co. (and a promotional parade float). These buildings were located at the west end of the village, on the north side of Main Street between what is today the circle and Hamlin Avenue. A "bicycle craze" in the 1880s and 1890s led village leaders to ban the riding of bikes on sidewalks as well as to enact a 10-mph speed limit for bicycles.

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.