The Utopian society of Aurora, Oregon was established by Dr. William Keil as the site of what was to be his last communal settlement. Keil was a charismatic Prussian tailor and self-styled physician who began preaching soon after his arrival in the United States in 1831. He attracted a following for his fundamental Christian preaching which centered on the Golden Rule and his belief, “from each according to his ability, to each according to his need.” Like the Shakers, Rappites, and other religious Utopian groups of the 19^th Century, Aurora Colony was inspired by the description of the earliest communities of Christians in Acts 2: 44-45: “And all who believed were together and had all things in common and they sold their possessions and goods and distributed them to all, as any had need. [RSP]”

Keil and his followers had set up a successful settlement at Bethel, Missouri, and in 1853 sent a scouting party across the Oregon Trail to the Northwest to find a location for another settlement; an outgrowth of the Bethel community. Those scouts chose a site at Willapa Bay, Washington, which proved to be too remote and wet for developing a self-sufficient agricultural community. After a discouraging and soggy winter on Willapa Bay, Keil traveled to Portland to search for a new western location. In 1856 Keil purchased the George White donation land claim on the Pudding River, a day’s horseback ride from Oregon City along the route that became the Territorial Highway. Dr. Keil named the town Aurora Mills after his daughter.

Cooperative effort, industry, and unquestioned obedience to the dictates of the astute Dr. Keil, led to the rapid growth of the Colony. By the end on 1867 with the arrival of the last wagon train from Bethel the settlement numbered some 600 souls. These pioneers built their own homes, shops and mills on the 18,000 acres of land acquired by Keil with communal funds. They were independent, self sustaining and content. Good music, delicious food and friendliness combined with a love of God, brought them happiness unmatched elsewhere in the West of that day.

Although the Colony lifestyle required a measure of isolation from the world, it needed proximity to markets to survive and Dr. Keil always welcomed “outsiders” to Aurora. With the construction of a hotel, Aurora became a rest-stop for the stage route along the Territorial Highway. When railroad magnate, Ben Holladay, was looking for right-of-way in the late 1860s, Keil negotiated with the Oregon and California Railway Company to build their line through Aurora. Renowned for the quality of its authentic German food the Colony Hotel became a favorite stopping point for Portland/San Francisco travelers with four trains a day stopping in Aurora for meals.

Dr. Keil continued as the undisputed leader of the Colonists personal lives and finances until his sudden death in 1877. Left without a strong leader, the Colonists finally dissolved their organization and each member received a fair share of the total property and holdings. Dissolution became final in 1883 and Aurora’s businesses and industries became privately owned, many of them operated by former Colony members and their descendents.

Time has erased many major Colony structures. The Colony Church was razed, as was Keil’s Das Gross Hous, the largest Colony home. The coming of Highway 99E in 1933 and the building of a new Mill Creek Bridge in 1934 cut paths through the sites of the hotel and several major Colony houses, and scarred the balanced grid layout of the village. Yet, preservation efforts were not too late for many Colony and post-Colony structures, and some 20 sites were placed on the National Register of Historic places in 1974 – making Aurora the first historic district in Oregon to be nominated for such status by the state.  Today, visitors are invited to explore the Aurora National Historic District and learn firsthand about the Aurora colony, its people and their way of life.

You can learn more about Aurora and its history by visiting the Old Aurora Colony Museum. 

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