From 2001 to 2007, redevelopment of historic properties in the village by entrepreneur Pleasant Rowland and the Aurora Foundation earned compliments, as well as provoking citizen concern, a lawsuit joined by state and national preservation organizations, and national media attention.

It had permanent dwellings and the people cultivated fields for their staple crops of varieties of corn, beans and squash.

They were left landless and shared space with the Seneca on their reservation that once included the north end of Cayuga Lake.

The United States reserved this portion to pay off veterans with deeds to land after the Revolutionary War.

The tract was part of the five million acres (20,000 km2) of lands which the Iroquois were forced to cede in the 1794 Treaty of Canandaigua.

Many veterans from New England settled in the Finger Lakes area, as did some migrants from the Mohawk and Hudson valleys.

It became a port, shipping produce from farmers in the region up Cayuga Lake, then by the Erie Canal to other major markets.

[3] Many prominent graduates attended the school, including President Millard Fillmore,[4] William Brookfield, the founder of the Bushwick Glass Works; and William E. Leffingwell (1855–1927), State Assemblyman and founder of the Glen Springs Sanitarium.

[7] Also listed on the National Register of Historic Places are the Aurora Steam Grist Mill (1976) and Mosher Farmstead (2003).

This is the first substantial property which the Cayuga Nation has owned since after being forced to cede its lands after the Revolutionary War.

They also voted to close the historic Aurora Inn on Main Street and look for a private developer to redevelop and manage it.

In press accounts, Rowland expressed her vision of enhancing the historic character and attractiveness of the community, and of improving the local economy.

[5] The critics founded the Aurora Coalition and brought suit to stop the renovation of the inn and demolition of a neighboring grocery.

[5] Continuing economic problems in central New York and residents' differing ideas about the village kept the controversy alive.

Although Rowland put the local home decor firm MacKenzie-Childs up for sale, she also purchased an additional building in the village and set up a new limited liability corporation to operate her properties.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of 0.92 square miles (2.38 km2), all land.