Past Events

Titanic Dinner

Step aboard the Titanic for a memorable evening with the Aurora Historical Society
April 17, 2012

6:00pm Greet the captain at a First Class welcome at Chef Amaurys, 33 West New York Street, where the evening will begin with champagne and hors d’oeuvres as a musical ensemble plays the elegant favorites of the era. Then a chorus will wish us “Godspeed, Titanic” (a song from the musical) and a bagpiper will accompany us across the street to Ballydoyle’s.

7:00pm Dinner will be drawn directly from the actual Second Class Dining Saloon menu of April 14, 1912 and will offer you a choice of haddock or curried chicken. After dinner we will retire to a deckside setting for a dessert buffet featuring more delicacies of the period from the Titanic’s menu.

8:30pm We find ourselves in the Third Class section letting down our hair and enjoying lively entertainment in blissful ignorance of the fateful moment later that night.


We wish to thank the Community Foundation of the Fox River Valley for their kind support of this event.


The Community Foundation is also sponsoring a movie night at the Paramount Arts Center the previous evening, April 16, at 7:00pm (doors open at 6:30pm). The feature will be the 1953 movie “Titanic” which tells the tale of an American family whose members, while pursuing vastly different goals, reconcile on that fateful night. The film won an Academy Award for Original Screenplay and stars Barbara Stanwyck and Clifton Webb. You may obtain free tickets to the film when you make your dinner reservations.

Official 175th Birthday Party for the City of Aurora

March 2, 2012
Aurora Transportation Center

The demisemiseptcentennial year began with a dual celebration.

First, a commemoration of the establishment of the post office in Aurora on March 2, 1837. Postal and city officials joined with the Aurora Historical Society at the main post office at 525 North Broadway. In front of an exhibit of vintage photographs, a life-size photo of a 1930s-era letter carrier and a clerk’s cage from the Benton Street post office building that served from 1933-1988, postmaster Jacqueline Sanchez, Mayor Tom Weisner and AHS Executive Director John Jaros spoke and a quartet of AHS president Mary Clark Ormond, Bradley Green, Dr. James Mamminga and Laurel Ormond sang “Aurora Lived a Dream”, a song composed for the sesquicentennial in 1987 by music educator Roger Jacobson. Following that, the post office offered a postal cancellation using the 175th anniversary cancellation designed by Neal Ormond IV.

Later, city and historical society officials gathered at the Aurora Transportation Center to commemorate the 175 years of history in speeches and original songs by the family band “Bradley Keven Green”. Violinist Allison Zabelin played an homage to world-reknowned violinist Maud Powell, who grew up in Aurora in the 1860s and 70s. The goddess Aurora, featured prominently on the anniversary poster by Neal Ormond IV, and portrayed on this occasion by Stephanie Voirin Leo, made her first appearance to the strains of “Aurora Girl” composed by Bradley Green. Centenarians and long-time residents of Aurora were honored by the mayor, as were members of pioneer families whose roots reached back to 1865 and earlier. A cake which featured a replica of the Roundhouse, by CakeDeco bakers Cynthia Gonzalez and Mary Plata, put the finishing touch on refreshments by Reuland Food Service which also introduced two special new wines from the Fox Valley Winery: Goddess and Red Goddess. More than 100 Aurora school children surrounded the crowd holding vivid balloons and singing “Happy Birthday, Aurora”.

7th Annual Holiday Designer Showcase

December 2-28, 2011
Tanner House Museum

With the gloom of Halloween dispersed, the Tanner House was aglow with holiday cheer. Congratulations to winners of the Favorite Room contest – Past and Present Shoppes of North Aurora.
Click here to view photos.

Death Comes to the Tanner House: the Seance

October 20 - 30, 2011
Tanner House Museum

It was a different world in the Victorian era for those who grieved a lost loved one. Visitors in 2011 made the acquaintance of the mysterious Dr. Swinn D. Lure, who claimed the power to reach behind the veil of death. Some of us still aren’t sure exactly what happened . . .
Click here to view photos.

Creating Mexican American Identities: Multiple Voices, Shared Dreams

August 12-November 18, 2011
David L. Pierce Art and History Center, 2nd Floor Gallery

This exhibit was produced by the West Chicago City Museum, with grants from the Illinois Humanities Council and The History Channel. Tracing the development of the Mexican American community in the Chicago area, the exhibit also featured images from the Aurora Historical Society/the Aurora Hispanic Heritage Advisory Board.
Click here to view reception photos.

The Civil War in Aurora: A Living History Weekend

July 2 - 3, 2011
Tanner House Museum

Click here to view photos/hear the band.

Luxembourg-USA: A Migration Story

May 13-July 31, 2011
David L. Pierce Art and History Center, 2nd floor gallery

No group was more important to the early development of Aurora than the Luxembourgers, whose descendants flocked to this exhibit loaned by the Luxembourg American Cultural Society.
Click here to view reception photos.

A Victorian Valentine’s Day Dinner

February 13, 2011
Chef Amaury’s, 33 West New York Street

Victorian elegance and excess characterized the evening of fine food and wine by Chef Amaury and his talented staff. Music was provided by Allison Zabelin, standing in for the Victorian sensation, Aurora’s own Maud Powell. Click here to view photos.