Just as they fought to save Victorian era building that were not appreciated in the 50s, we are now faced with the challenge of identifying and protecting the modern buildings of the mid-20th century that now seem obsolete to us today. In addition to individual buildings designed by architects, builders used plan books available at bookstores and libraries, or offered a few architect-designed home styles to construct modest dwellings in large-scale land developments.
Prompted by the housing shortage following World War Two, the number of contractors in Aurora grew from only three in the late thirties to over 69 in the late fifties. Some of the companies included P.A. Thrall and Sons, Inc., J.N. Little and Son, Wm. Rahn and Sons, Clayton H. Stoner, Fred Gates Construction, Charles Carson, LaVerne Weber, Magnuson Construction Company, and Banks and Wegman (later R.C. Wegman Construction Company).