HISTORY & RESEARCH

The Old Aurora Colony Museum houses all that remains of a way of life which began arriving in Aurora in 1856. Dr. William Keil, a strong, religious man, organized his followers under the Golden Rule: “Every man and woman must be a brother or sister to every other man or women in our family under the fatherhood of God – EVERYDAY.”

The Utopian society of Aurora, Oregon was established by Dr. 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 and in recognition that it already possessed a saw and grist mill which Keil had purchased from the previous owners.

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.

Economically, the Aurora Colony was successful from the start. Colony orchards soon made Aurora one of the principal fruit-growing regions of the Northwest, and Colony lumber, shoes, textiles, furniture, tin-ware, and baskets were among the first goods manufactured. After the needs of the Colony were satisfied, members were free to market their surplus for their own profit.

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.