In 1891, Donald Fletcher founded the town of Fletcher, ColoradoFletcher on the plains east of Denver, ColoradoDenver, naming the town after himself. The real estate tycoon left two years later, leaving the new residents with bond payments for non-existent water. The town was renamed Aurora (Latin languageLatin for dawn) in 1907, and remained a small community until after World War II. Postwar suburban development transformed the town into what became the fastest growing city in the United States during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Although Aurora has long been considered by many only as one of Denver's larger suburbs, its growing population in recent decades (now over half the size of the City of Denver) has led to efforts for co-equal recognition with its larger neighbor. A former mayor once expressed the somewhat whimsical notion that eventually the area would be called the "Aurora/Denver Metropolitan Area." However, such efforts are somewhat hampered by the lack of a large, historically important central business district in the city, which is largely suburban in character. World attention focused on Aurora for seven weeks during the fall of 1955, as President Dwight D. Eisenhower recovered from a heart attack at Fitzsimons Army Medical Center. The hospital is also the birthplace of 2004 Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry. Decommissioned in 1999, the facility is now under redevelopment as the campus of the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center and Hospital, which are relocating there from Denver, and the Colorado Bioscience Park Aurora. These facilities will employ a workforce of 32,000 at build-out. 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. Aurora's active populace is also reflected in the variety of professional athletes hailing from the city (see Notable People from Aurora below). Aurora's first professional sports franchise, the Aurora Cavalry in the International Basketball League (2005-)International Basketball League, began play in 2006. Aurora has always been awkwardly split between two counties (more recently, three counties) and lies distant from the respective county seats. A consolidated city-countyconsolidated 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 Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurora%2C_Colorado