Aurora Still Works in the Roycroft Shops

Arts and Crafts is a concrete way into Aurora. Elbert Hubbard helped grow the campus on South Grove Street into an Arts and Crafts center. The restored Roycroft Inn and the Elbert Hubbard Museum still keep that story visible.

The district is a National Historic Landmark with original buildings such as the Inn, Chapel, Print Shop, Furniture Shop, and Copper Shop. The thread is specific: brick buildings, craft, printing, furniture, copper work, and tours give Aurora a creative face.

That is why East Aurora feels different from a village with a pretty Main Street alone. The Roycroft story gives the place a working imagination. It is not just “old buildings”; it is a campus where books, furniture, metalwork, lodging, lectures, and craft ideals all left a visible mark.

You can still feel that in the names and buildings around the campus. The Inn, the shops, the museum, and South Grove Street give Aurora a local story with texture: creative, handmade, a little idealistic, and very specific to this corner of Erie County.

It is the sort of history that still feels usable, because it lives in a walkable cluster instead of staying in a book.