{"id":12278,"date":"2015-10-14T21:40:57","date_gmt":"2015-10-15T01:40:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=12278"},"modified":"2015-10-28T16:53:39","modified_gmt":"2015-10-28T20:53:39","slug":"inside-aurora-happy-sesquidecennial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/inside-aurora-happy-sesquidecennial\/","title":{"rendered":"INSIDE AURORA: Happy Sesquidecennial!"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Scott Johnston<\/strong><\/p>\n

Fifteen years ago this week, the people of this Town discovered something new in their mailboxes; The Auroran.
\nYes, this week our newspaper celebrates its 15th anniversary.
\nLooking at that first issue one can see that a lot in Aurora has changed, while much has stayed the same.
\nThe first difference is that the newspaper came by mail. Distribution by carriers would follow later, and not because door to door delivery was being phased out by Canada Post.
\nVolume 1 number 1 stated that the Town\u2019s population was 41,000, which is about a thousand people a year less than what it is now, fifteen years later.
\nIt was noted that it had been more than 20 years since there was a newspaper based in Town. That certainly changed that day.
\nThe paper promised that the focus would be on Aurora, which was suggested through the caption \u201cIf it concerns Aurora, it concerns us.\u201d This pre-dated the current \u201cAurora\u2019s Community Newspaper\u201d, although both still apply.
\nAccording to the editor, efforts would be made to tell folks about events before they happened.
\nAs is still the case today, the Town\u2019s history was much in focus, both through articles and photos.
\nSupport was put forward for controlled growth to help maintain that small town feel. Through the paper, presumably in large part through the ads, people would be encouraged to support local businesses and shop locally.
\nThere were certainly many ads from local stores, although a number of the ones featured in that issue are no longer around.
\nInterestingly, all of the contact phone numbers were seven digits, as dialing the extra three numbers of the area codes was not yet required.
\nNot surprisingly, with a municipal election looming, the lead story was about Council. While there were many names mentioned who are still familiar to us today, none of the 4 mayoral or 12 (yes, only 12) Councillor candidates is still active on Council.
\nThe first issue didn’t talk about the election issues, but they were pretty much what we hear each time: accountability, balanced development, and lower taxes.
\nReaders were encouraged to get out and vote, a nudge that seems required every election no matter what level of government
\nA few places in the news of that day are no longer with us. Wells Street School, which was actually a school back then and not lofts, had announced its annual Fall Fair.
\nAurora Hydro was also a going concern, although there was foreshadowing that it could be swallowed up by a larger utility company.
\nOver on what were the quiet fields west of the 404, plans were announced for the new Canadian headquarters for State Farm. At least that one\u2019s still with us.
\nSure to improve traffic through Town was the soon-to-be-completed widening of Yonge Street to five lanes from Murray to Dunning.
\nOther traffic-related news stories had a familiar ring to them; concern about speeding on local streets, but caution about implementing all of the recommendations due to the cost, the increasing price of snow removal, and the time it took to get the streets cleared in winter.
\nThat first edition was only 8 smallish pages, but the newspaper promised to keep Aurorans informed, entertained, and connected to their community. And for 15 years, I think it has.
\nThanks to Ron, for having that vision, and thanks to all of our readers who have supported The Auroran since then.
\nAs for the next 15 years, I\u2019ll be hanging onto this week\u2019s edition of the paper, so let\u2019s reconvene here in 2030, and take a look at how things have changed.<\/p>\n

Feel free to e-mail Scott at: machellscorners@gmail.com<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Scott Johnston Fifteen years ago this week, the people of this Town discovered something new in their mailboxes; The Auroran. Yes, this week our newspaper celebrates its 15th anniversary. Looking at that first issue one can see that a lot in Aurora has changed, while much has stayed the same. The first difference is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12278","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archive"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-3c2","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-15 11:52:28","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12278","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12278"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12278\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}