THE AURORA COMMUNITY.
In finishing the investigation of the settlement of French Prairie, omission should not be made of the community established by Doctor Keil, at Aurora, which is situated near Pudding River, at a point intersected by the line of the Southern Pacific Railway, which was built after the town was started.
This was a somewhat remarkable movement, and brought to Oregon about five hundred settlers. The founder, Doctor Keil, was an unusual man. He was a native of Prussia, and was taken up even in the old country with certain communistic or socialistic ideas, and made the United States his field of operations. In a little book published in 1871 by Carl G. Koch, an Evangelical preacher, it is stated that he was born on March 6, 1811, at Erfurt, Prussia. He was a tailor by trade, and was a very well esteemed young man, He enjoyed the companionship of the best class of society, and ever bore himself creditably. That he was possessed of unusual talents, says Mr. Koch, was shown by his later career.
He established a movement that gained considerable headway among the Pennsylvania Germans and other German speaking citizens of the United States. In 1845 he brought together a considerable portion of the members of his society to test practically the working of his social scheme, and started the colony, or community, at Bethel, Missouri. Ten years later he decided to bring this colony to Oregon, and thus our state, and especially Marion County, became the beneficiary of an extensive social propaganda.
