The historic village of Aurora, Cayuga County, New York, rises on a hill above the eastern shore of Cayuga Lake. The village was named by Captain Benjamin Ledyard, who settled there in 1793, in the post-Revolutionary development of the Finger Lakes region. Up until the mid-nineteenth century, Aurora played an important part in the history of Central New York.
County seat for first Onondaga County and later Cayuga County, the village was also a leading market town in the region. A steam-powered flour mill was built in 1817, the first of its kind west of Albany and contributed to Aurora's role as a commercial point. Aurora was a major shipping point for goods bound up the Lake and through the Erie Canal, until the canal's role was replaced by railroads in the mid-19th century.
Its notable business entrepreneurs included Henry Wells, founder of American Express and Wells Fargo, whose express mail and banking services spanned New York state and reached to the developing state of California. Having earned capital in shipping and trade, Edwin Barber Morgan invested with Wells and served as a director for Wells Fargo for years. In addition, Morgan founded the United States Express Company, which provided express mail to the South, and he was an early investor in The New York Times. Wells and Morgan are also responsible for two of the historic houses that make up the district. Wells founded Wells Seminary, later Wells College, in 1868, which Morgan also supported.
In 1980, the Aurora Village–Wells College Historic District was entered on the National Register of Historic Places.