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Aurora, Minnesota

14 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1949 and the latest in 1994. It stands in White Township. It lies in ZIP code area 55705. The Survey maps it on the Aurora quadrangle. 1,678 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,470 feet above sea level.

Aurora within St. Louis County

Population over time

2 figures

Aurora fell from 1,682 to 1,678 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.

YearPeople Change
20101,682
20201,678-4 (-0%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

8 surveys from 14 printed sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

Fires near this place

87 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 87 fires within 5 miles of Aurora between 1992 and 2020, burning about 258 acres in total. 2 started naturally. 9 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Railroad operations and maintenance22
Debris and open burning20
Missing data/not specified/undetermined10
Arson/incendiarism9
Recreation and ceremony9
Equipment and vehicle use7
Misuse of fire by a minor4
Smoking2
Power generation/transmission/distribution2
Natural2

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
8 September 2005Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreSuperior National ForestSUFFOLK ROAD FIRE
6 September 1996Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
6 August 2006Debris and open burningunder an acreMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
14 August 2007Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
1 August 2001Railroad operations and maintenanceunder an acreSuperior National ForestDMIR MP49.5
1 August 2001Railroad operations and maintenanceunder an acreSuperior National ForestDMIR MP 49.8
5 July 2006Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
28 July 2006Debris and open burningunder an acreMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in St. Louis County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 72 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 72 workings within 5 miles of Aurora: 56 past producers, 9 producers, 7 prospects. 9 still produce. What was taken out: Iron, Aluminum, Manganese, Phosphorus-Phosphates, Silica, Water, Free, Silica, Manganese, Aluminum, Phosphorus-Phosphates, Water, Free, Water, Free. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Bangor MineIron, Silica, Manganese, Aluminum, Phosphorus-Phosphates, Water, FreeProducer1910
Magnetic Taconite Mesabi Range 15wIron, Water, FreeProspect
Stephens MineIron, Manganese, Aluminum, Silica, Phosphorus-Phosphates, Water, FreeProducer1903
U.S. Steel Reserve O-40Iron, Silica, Manganese, Aluminum, Water, Free, Phosphorus-PhosphatesPast Producer
Donora MineIron, Aluminum, Manganese, Phosphorus-Phosphates, Silica, Water, FreeProspect
Embarrass MineIron, Aluminum, Manganese, Phosphorus-Phosphates, Silica, Water, FreePast Producer1909
Meadow Reserve O-29Iron, Aluminum, Manganese, Phosphorus-Phosphates, Silica, Water, FreeProspect
U.S. Steel Reserve 0-42Iron, Aluminum, Manganese, Phosphorus-Phosphates, Silica, Water, FreePast Producer1956
Adriatic MineIronPast Producer1906
Adriatic MineIronPast Producer

Every working recorded in St. Louis County

Storms near this place

9 since 1998

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Aurora in 9 storm reports between 1998 and 2025: 5 thunderstorm wind, 4 hail. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
May 2025Thunderstorm WindAurora-Two trees were reported down onto power lines.
May 2018Thunderstorm WindAurora-Several trees were blown down by thunderstorm winds in Aurora.
July 2014Thunderstorm WindAurora-Many small trees and some large trees were blown down in Aurora.
April 2004Thunderstorm WindAurora-Trees were damaged and blown down.
August 2001Thunderstorm WindAurora-Trees up to 12 inches in diameter were blown down between Aurora and Eveleth.
June 2024HailAurora-no account filed
June 2024HailAurora-no account filed
June 2020HailAurora-no account filed
August 1998HailAurora-no account filed

Every storm recorded in St. Louis County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Map PlaceDistance Sheets
Pineville3.0 miles14
Colby3.7 miles14
Hoyt Lakes5.3 miles14
Biwabik5.5 miles14
Mesaba6.2 miles14
Old Mesaba6.6 miles14
Hinsdale6.8 miles14
Wyman6.9 miles14

Elsewhere

Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.

Wikipedia article on AuroraAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1926636The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0).

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 660700. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.

Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.