More about
North Aurora, IL

Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory

The Fabyan Forest Preserve and Villa Museum

Explore the Fox Valley!

Algonquin
Aurora
Batavia
Bolingbrook
Crystal Lake
Elgin
Elmhurst
Fox Lake
Geneva
Huntley
Naperville
North Aurora
Oswego
St. Charles
Sandwich
Sugar Grove
West Chicago
West Dundee
Yorkville

D.R. Sperry Company moved their iron foundry downriver --  from a smaller facility in Batavia (Illinois) to North Aurora -- in the early 1880s because the company felt that a larger foundry would help to increase business.  Sperry selected a site below the dam because the waterpower there would be both inexpensive and plentiful.  A fire destroyed the plant in 1885, but it was rebuilt; operations resumed on a much larger scale.  The bucket pictured to the right is an original melting bucket used at the Sperry Company to heat molten metal for use in various products.