In 1856 a dedicated group of German speaking Christians came to the Willamette Valley to establish a new site for their communal society. Dr Keil, their leader, had first brought the group from Pennsylvania to Missouri, where they founded the town of Bethel. They did not belong to any organized church and were typical of many religious sects of the time. Dr Keil organized the Aurora Colony around these concepts:

• “From each according to his abilities: to each according to his needs”

• “Love one another”

• Tenets of the New Testament, including the instruction to believers to hold all things in common

When the first group of about 150 Colony members arrived in Aurora, Dr Keil purchased, under his name, several hundred acres of farmland, a sawmill and gristmill, all adjacent to the Pudding River. More Colony members came in 1863 and 1865. By 1870 the total area of the Colony was about 19,500 acres, scattered around the French Prairie. Colony properties extended from Butteville to Charbonneau and Hubbard.

Each family lived as an independent unit and occupied their own separate dwelling. Unmarried girls usually lived with their family until their marriage, while unmarried men frequently lived in bachelor housing especially built for that purpose.

Most men of the Colony were knowledgeable about farm life since they had been farmers in Missouri and Pennsylvania. There were wheelwrights, cobblers (shoemakers), carpenters, tinsmiths, coopers (barrel makers), millers, furniture makers, blacksmiths, and other skilled craftspeople. By using communal labor and working together when needed, Colony members were able to live in better housing than they would have achieved outside the group. In the beginning of the Colony, members spoke German. This common language helped to establish their own social structure. It also helped isolate them from ‘the world.’

Communal shops and equipment were also available to support Colony efforts. Farmers brought the produce not needed by their families into the Colony store, where they received credit for it. This credit could be used towards other items such as fabrics, harnesses, musical instruments, kitchenware or furniture. Sometimes the extra merchandise was sold outside of the community.

Women worked to raise the children, milk the cows, feed the chickens, make bread, gather eggs, churn butter, spin, weave, make clothing, preserve food, etc. Some women worked in the spinning and weaving workshop where blankets and throws were made for commercial sales. Cheese, butter, eggs, and dried fruit all could be brought to the store for credit against that which could not be grown at home. Children were assigned chores as soon as they were able to do them. They generally fell along gender lines — girls doing women’s chores and boys doing men’s chores. Some of the chores included sewing and mending, gathering eggs, churning butter, feeding the livestock, cutting and carrying firewood and seeding the garden.

Although Dr. Keil wanted his Colony to be away from influences of the outside world, he also realized that trading was an important ingredient of the Colony’s success. Aurora was on the main road between Oregon City and Salem. Dr Keil’s house (Das Grosse Haus) was used as a communal building, with family rooms, meeting rooms and housing for unmarried men. This house had even been used as a meal stop for stagecoaches. When the Aurora Colony Hotel was constructed, a large dining room became a favorite stop for travelers and was famous throughout the state. The dining hall had become a chief moneymaker for the Colony and was largely staffed by the spinsters and unmarried women of the Colony. “Dutchtown” became an even more popular stop when the railroad was put through in 1869. (‘Dutch’ is from ‘Deutschland,’ meaning Germany.) By design, the hotel and train depot were just steps apart.

The Colony members were hardworking and successful. They also knew how to have fun. Celebrations with eating and dancing served to unify the strong sense of community. Music was one of the things that contributed to holding the Colony together. An Aurora Colony Band was active as early as 1856 and played for the various Colony picnics, dances, concerts and fetes which were an important part of Colony life. The band also played in other communities and was in big demand at the State Fair. As the Colony grew, another band was established for the younger men and boys. This was the “pie and beer” band, because that’s how they were paid.

School was another important element of the Colony. At first the school was taught in both German and English, later just in English.

The Colony continued to prosper and expand. Large families were common in the Colony and society as a whole. The heyday of the Colony was in the period of 1865-1873. Additional farmland was purchased, families moved from ‘temporary’ log homes to homes made of lumber from the sawmill. The reputation of the people in “Dutchtown” for honesty and hard work spread far and wide.

As with most Utopian societies of that day, the Colony was held together by a charismatic leader — in this case, Dr. Keil. In his role as a firm patriarch, Dr. Keil did not encourage others to share control of Colony affairs. There were no successors in line for the leadership position. After Keil’s death in 1877, the elders decided to dissolve the Colony, with a majority of the members agreeing on dissolution.

Even before his death, Dr. Keil had begun transferring ownership of properties to individual members. Up to this time, Colony land was in Dr. Keil’s name. Also, there were several Colony members involved in private enterprises. The division of the rest of the Colony property was probated as a will by a judge (as was the land in Bethel, Missouri) and took several years and much discussion. January of 1883 saw the final distribution of lands and property.

The year 1883 may have seen the end of the Colony proper, but most of the former members continued to live as before. They lived in the same houses, tilled the same fields and attended the same church, school and social events. While the communal society no longer was officially in existence, the chief difference was that everything was no longer held in common. Colony members had many years of friendship, shared adventures and interrelated families to keep them united. They also had their simple faith. The Aurora band continued to perform through the 1920s. The Aurora Colony Hotel, by this time in a private ownership, continued to be a popular train stop.

Today, the Aurora Colony Historical Society maintains a museum complex and the Stauffer-Will Farm as well as rental houses and commercial property. The museum complex contains the Ox Barn Museum, the Kraus House, Wash House, Tie Shed and Steinbach Log Cabin, as well as the nearby Octagon Building. The Willamette Valley Herb Society maintains an herb garden on the museum grounds.