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Aurora (, ) is a Home Rule Municipality in the U.S. state of Colorado, spanning Arapahoe and Adams counties, with the extreme southeastern portion of the city extending into Douglas County. Aurora is one of the principal cities of the Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area (Metro Denver). The city's population was 325,078 in the 2010 census,〔(【引用サイトリンク】 title=Geographic Identifiers: 2010 Demographic Profile Data (G001): Aurora city, Colorado )〕 which made it the third most populous city in the state of Colorado and the 54th most populous city in the United States. The Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area had an estimated population of 2,645,209 on July 1, 2012 (the 21st most populous MSA in the U.S.). However, Denver and Aurora combined make up less than half of the Denver Metro Area's population and Aurora has approximately half the population of Denver. The estimated population of Denver-Aurora, CO Combined Statistical Area was 3,214,218 on July 1, 2012 (16th most populous CSA).〔 ==History== Aurora originated in the 1880s 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 east of Denver, but the town - and Colorado - struggled mightily after the Silver Crash of 1893. At that point Fletcher skipped town, leaving the community with a huge water debt. Inhabitants decided to rename the town Aurora in 1907, after one of the subdivisions composing the town, and 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. Rather aptly, Aurora, the city composed of hundreds of subdivisions thus carries the name of one of the original development plats from which it sprang. Although Aurora has long been considered by many only as one of Denver's larger suburbs, Aurora's growing population in recent decades (now over half the size of Denver) 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 collection of tall buildings. A large military presence has existed in Aurora since the early 20th century. In 1918, Army General Hospital #21 (later renamed Fitzsimons Army Hospital) opened, with the U.S. government expanding and upgrading the hospital facilities in 1941 just in time to care for the wounded servicemen of World War II. Lowry Air Force Base was opened in 1938, straddling the border of Aurora and Denver. It eventually closed in 1994, and was redeveloped into a master-planned community featuring residential, commercial, business and educational facilities. In 1942, the Army Air Corps built Buckley Field, which over the course of history has been renamed Naval Air Station, Buckley Air National Guard Base and finally Buckley Air Force Base. The base, home of the 460th Space Wing and the 140th Wing Colorado Air National Guard, is Aurora's largest employer. President Dwight D. Eisenhower recovered from a heart attack at Fitzsimons Army Medical Center for seven weeks during the fall of 1955. In 1943 the hospital was the birthplace of 2004 Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry. Decommissioned in 1999, the facility is part of the Anschutz Medical Campus of the University of Colorado Denver, and the Fitzsimons Life Science District. The Anschutz Medical Campus also includes the University of Colorado Hospital, which moved to Aurora from Denver in 2007, and the Children's Hospital. The first carbon-ion radiotherapy research and treatment facility in the U.S. has been proposed at the site. These facilities will employ a workforce of 32,000 at build-out. In 1965, mayor Norma O. Walker became the first woman to head a U.S. city with a population over 60,000. In 1979, it was announced that a science fiction theme park would be built in Aurora using the sets of a 50-million dollar film based on the fantasy novel Lord of Light. However, due to legal problems the project was never completed. The script of the unmade film project, renamed ''Argo'', was used as cover for the "Canadian Caper": the exfiltration of six U.S. diplomatic staff trapped by the Iranian hostage crisis. In 1993, Cherry Creek State Park on the southwestern edge of Aurora was the location for the papal mass of the 8th World Youth Day with Pope John Paul II, attended by an estimated 500,000 people. In 2004, Aurora was honored as the ''Sports Illustrated'' magazine's 50th Anniversary "Sportstown" for Colorado because of its exemplary involvement in facilitating and enhancing sports. The city attracts more than 30 regional and national sports tournaments annually to Aurora's fields, which include the Aurora Sports Park opened in 2003. Aurora's active populace is also reflected in the variety of professional athletes hailing from the city. Aurora's first semi-professional sports franchise, the Aurora Cavalry in the International Basketball League, began play in 2006 but folded by season's end due to budget mishaps. Aurora is split among three counties and lies distant from the respective county seats. A consolidated city and county government was considered in the mid-1990s but failed to win approval by city voters. The issue was reconsidered in 2006.〔http://www.aurorasentinel.com/main.asp?SectionID=8&SubSectionID=8&ArticleID=11778 〕 Colorado voters created the City and County of Denver in 1902 and the City and County of Broomfield in 2001. A consolidated city and county of Aurora would likely include areas not within the current city limits, but the new city-county boundaries would be set, restricting future expansion. In 2008, Aurora was designated an All-America City by the National Civic League. (詳細はmass shooting in terms of number of casualties in United States history, and the second-deadliest shooting in Colorado since the 1999 Columbine High School massacre. The shooting occurred just after midnight, when James Eagan Holmes opened fire during the midnight premiere of ''The Dark Knight Rises'' in a Century movie theater, killing 12 people and injuring 70 others. The shooting drew an international response from world leaders. U.S. President Barack Obama visited victims, as well as local and state officials, and addressed the nation in a televised address from Aurora on July 22. Actor Christian Bale, who plays Batman in the film, also visited some victims in hospitals. The events marked a turning point in recognition and public perception of the city; rather than referring to the site as being in "Denver" or "suburban Denver", as would have been typical before the event, virtually all media accounts of the incident unequivocally named "Aurora" as its location. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Aurora, Colorado」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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