history

Aurelia in 1878 The village of Aurelia is located nine miles east of the Sioux River, near a branch of the Maple, occupying a cheery site in the Maple Valley. The population of the adjoining township is more dense than elsewhere in the county. The farms are in a high state of cultivation and the face of the county wears the aspect of an old settlement, as compared with the west side of the county. The cause of this part of the county settling before the west is due to the fact that the townships of Pitcher and Afton had a great deal of land taken under the homestead law while the west part around Marcus was held almost solely by the railway company and by speculators. The homesteads being settled on naturally facilitated the sale of the railroad land adjoining, and thus these townships have become largely absorbed.

Aurelia is a lively, bustling little town. It has this fiscal year shipped about 200 cars of wheat, and very considerable consignments of live stock. The crops of the Maple Valley were luxuriant in 1877, the corn yield being altogether unprecedented. There trade has been very lively; and business received an impulse that will make 1877 a memorable year in the history of the village. The population will aggregate about 200, composted very largely of the business class. Aurelia is noted for her elevators, having three very substantial and commodious ones. R. R. Whitney, the pioneer of the place, has an elevator that can store away 18,000 bushels. The Miller Brothers have the first elevator built in the village, and Alex Frazer has a neat little gem of a building, run by improved machinery. The lumber business is represented by two yards, the pioneer one being that of the Miller Bros. and the other of T. W. D. Orswell, both well supplied. It contains a number of find business houses: dry goods, grocery, clothing, hardware, boots and shoes, shoe making shops, harness shops, etc. The post master J. W. Miller, has a large well furnished store. Mr. Enright has a large stock of drugs, Mr. Hinkle represents the clothing business. Mr. Orswell carries on an extensive building establishment, Harker & Whorton have a well selected stock of goods; the Marsh House is a popular resort for travelers and Ruden & Kenyon have facilities for adjusting the human barometer. The town has a harness shop, shoe shop, livery stable, blacksmith shop, and other business places. The health of the town is in charge of Dr. Quirk, and is in good hands. The people are enterprising, intelligent and refined. The lumber and coal trade is heavy; of the latter the Miller Bros. have a large share. It has a good school house, and three church organizations, viz: Dunkard, Methodist and Lutheran.

Source: History of Cherokee County published by Cherokee County Historical Society. ( Their source: Cherokee Times, January 1878)