The Church in Aurora

Side A: Aurora’s first church was established on December 31, 1809 under the guidance of the Connecticut Missionary Society. The congregation called the Rev. John Seward of Granby, Massachusetts to be the first minister in 1812. Built on land donated by Samuel Forward and dedicated in 1824, the original brick church was replaced by a wood-frame building in 1872. The First Congregational Church and the Aurora Disciples of Christ formed an association called the Federated Church in Aurora in 1913. These three entities merged to form The Church in Aurora in 1933, serving the community as more than a landmark. Side B: (Continued from other side) The church building is an example of the “Victorian Gothic Revival” architectural style, popular from the 1840s to the 1880s. Features of style include steeply pitched roofs, doors with pointed Gothic arches, and multi-paned windows capped with Gothic arches and hood moldings with urns. This style originated in stone buildings too expensive to replicate. Carpenters imitated the stone detailing in wood, as demonstrated in the church’s exterior corner buttresses. The church added a fellowship hall and classrooms in 1952 and 1958. An educational wing was built in 1986 on the site of Aurora’s original town hall.