Aurora Colony, also called Aurora Mills, was a Christian

utopia A utopia ( ) typically describes an imaginary community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book '' Utopia'', describing a fictional island socie ...

communal society An intentional community is a voluntary residential community which is designed to have a high degree of social cohesion and teamwork from the start. The members of an intentional community typically hold a common social, political, religious, ...

founded in 1856 by

William Keil William Keil (March 6, 1812 – December 30, 1877) was the founder of communal religious societies in Bethel, Missouri, and Aurora Colony in Oregon, that he established and led in the nineteenth century. Influenced by German Lutheranism, pietism ...

in modern-day

Aurora, Oregon Aurora is a city in Marion County, Oregon, United States. Before being incorporated as a city, it was the location of the Aurora Colony, a religious commune founded in 1856 by William Keil and John E. Schmit. William named the settlement after ...

, US. At its peak in 1868, the Aurora Colony had about 600 people and of land. The colony, along with Keil's previously established Bethel colony, was formally dissolved in 1883. In 1974, about and 12 buildings of the former colony were inscribed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artist ...

as parts of the Aurora Colony Historic District.."Department of the Interior, Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service: National Register of Historic Places; Annual Listing of Historic Properties"
44 FR 7416
(February 6, 1979), at p. 7570.

Background

William Keil was a Prussian-born tailor who moved to the United States with his wife in the 1830s. He opened open a tailor shop in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

, and studied pharmacology. He then moved to

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; (Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, Ma ...

and set up a drugstore and sold medicines. Around this time, he began calling himself "Dr. Keil". In 1839, Keil became a preacher after attending a

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related Christian denomination, denominations of Protestantism, Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John W ...

revival meeting. In Pennsylvania, he began to amass followers, including members of

George Rapp John George Rapp (german: Johann Georg Rapp; November 1, 1757 in Iptingen, Duchy of Württemberg – August 7, 1847 in Economy, Pennsylvania) was the founder of the religious sect called Harmonists, Harmonites, Rappites, or the Harmony Society. ...

's Economy Colony. In 1844 he and his followers established the Bethel community in Missouri, which at its peak had 650 members.

Founding

Though Keil's community in

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

was successful and nearly self-sufficient, he decided to expand his colony to the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though ...

of the United States. In 1853, he sent a scout party to find a location for "A Second Eden". In May 1855, Keil and several members of his Bethel colony in Missouri began the wagon journey to

Washington Territory The Territory of Washington was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 2, 1853, until November 11, 1889, when the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Washington. It was created from th ...

. Four days before they set out, Keil's son Willy died of

malaria Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or deat ...

. Not wanting to leave his son behind, Keil put the body in a wooden, lead-lined coffin and covered it with whiskey from the Bethel Distillery to preserve it. The group first settled at

Willapa Bay Willapa Bay () is a bay located on the southwest Pacific coast of Washington state in the United States. The Long Beach Peninsula separates Willapa Bay from the greater expanse of the Pacific Ocean. With over of surface area Willapa Bay is th ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

. After spending the winter there, Keil decided the land was not suitable for a self-sufficient agricultural community and began searching for a new location. In 1856 he purchased land and a functioning mill south of

Oregon City ) , image_skyline = McLoughlin House.jpg , imagesize = , image_caption = The McLoughlin House, est. 1845 , image_flag = , image_seal = Oregon City seal.png , image_map ...

. He named the Colony Aurora Mills after his daughter, Aurora. The original colony contained 250 members who had left the Bethel Colony with Keil.

Colonial life

The Aurora Colony built homes, schools, business, mills, and a hotel. The colony also created a fruit orchard and produced hand-made goods. The Oregon & California Railway line expanded to pass through Aurora in 1870, which brought additional business to the colony. The train stopped four times a day for meals in its hotel. The Aurora Colony Band became well known on the West Coast, and traveled throughout the region to perform music. The charismatic Keil was the sole leader of the group. As the spiritual leader, he installed his own form of

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesu ...

in the community. Keil preached a simple ideal about brotherhood and love and taught a "No title but Christian" and "No rules but the Bible" form of Christianity, maintaining that all existing religions were human creations. As in many other utopian communities, its founder held special privileges. He instated confession in order to maintain the member's humility, yet was immune from taking part in confession himself. He was also exempt from taking part in manual labor. Keil lived in a large house in the colony, called "Gross Haus" (German for Big House). As part of keeping order and maintaining his place in the community, Keil utilized mortification functions, calling out deviants for their transgressions during public meetings.

Smallpox outbreak

In 1862, a member of the colony took care of an individual outside the colony who had

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) ce ...

and brought it back to the Aurora Colony. As a result, many in Aurora contracted the disease and many died. Four of Keil's children died in the outbreak, including his daughter Aurora, the colony's namesake.

Dissolution of the colony

Keil had held all the communal property in his name. In 1872, after the death of his only remaining daughter, Keil began to transfer ownership of colony land to individual families in the community and intended to transfer more later. However, by the time he died suddenly on December 30, 1877, he had not made any additional transfers. It was decided to dissolve the two colonies, and the dissolution was formally declared on January 22, 1883. The land was later incorporated and became the modern-day city of Aurora, Oregon.

Legacy

In 1966 the Old Aurora Colony Museum was established, dedicated to maintaining the history of the colony. In 1974, twenty sites in Aurora were added to the National Register of Historical Places.

In media

Author

Jane Kirkpatrick Jane Kirkpatrick is an Oregon writer who has written many inspirational fiction and non-fiction books. Background Jane Kirkpatrick attended University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, where she initially majored in English before switching to social ...

wrote a trilogy of novels about the experience of Emma Wagner Giesy, the only female member of Keil's scout party to find a location for a new colony in the

that eventually became the Aurora Colony. The three novels in Kirkpatrick's series are "A Clearing in the Wild" (2006), "A Tendering In the Storm" (2007), and "Mending at the Edge" (2008).

References

External links

Aurora Colony Museum
* {{wikisource-inline, Oregon Historical Quarterly/Volume 2/The Aurora Community * wikisource:en:Oregon Historical Quarterly/Volume 37/Number 4#363 1856 establishments in Oregon Territory 1883 disestablishments in the United States Utopian communities in the United States Christian communities 19th century in Washington (state) National Register of Historic Places in Marion County, Oregon Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Oregon Aurora, Oregon