Before European settlement, the land that now makes up Aurora was the territory of the Arapaho, Cheyenne, Núu-agha-tʉvʉ-pʉ̱ (Ute), and Očeti Šakówiŋ (Sioux) tribes. These lands were claimed by France in 1682 and subsequently became part of the 1803 Louisiana Purchase.
Aurora originated in the 1890 as the town of Fletcher, taking its name from Denver businessman Donald Fletcher who saw it as a real estate opportunity. He and his partners staked out four square miles (10 km2) east of Denver, but the town—and Colorado—struggled mightily after the Silver Crash of 1893. The Town of Fletcher was incorporated on May 5, 1903. Fletcher skipped town, leaving the community with a huge water debt. Voters decided to rename Fletcher the Town of Aurora in 1907 after one of the subdivisions composing the town. The Aurora post office opened on January 15, 1908.
By February 1928, the town of Aurora had reached a population of over 2,000 and it was reincorporated as a city on March 9. Aurora slowly began to grow in Denver's shadow becoming the fastest-growing city in the United States during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Aurora, composed of hundreds of subdivisions, thus carries the name of one of the original development plats from which it sprang.
Aurora's growing population in recent decades has led to efforts for co-equal recognition with its larger neighbor. Former mayor Dennis Champine once expressed the somewhat whimsical notion that eventually the area would be called the "Aurora/Denver Metropolitan Area". Indeed, since the 2000 Census Aurora has surpassed Denver in land area, and much of Aurora is undeveloped, while Denver is more fully built-out. However, such efforts are somewhat hampered by the lack of a large, historically important central business district in the city. Aurora is largely suburban in character, as evidenced by the city's modest number of multi-story buildings.