By Sheila Edmunds, Village Historian

Recently opened to the public as a b-&-b, the E. B. Morgan house was built

between 1857 and 1858 for Edwin Barber Morgan,  Aurora’s pre-eminent

nineteenth century resident.  During the house's construction it was said to

have cost about $50,000--an astronomic figure for the period--and it was long considered “the finest residence in town.”  The designer of the vaguely

Italianate villa was a New York City architect, Joseph C. Wells--no relation

to Henry Wells--who went on to design the Presbyterian or United Ministry

church.  Two features are notable: the broad, open “piazza” facing the lake,

with its “wire-work” supports,  and the ground-floor bedroom overlooking the front door for Charlotte Morgan, E. B.’s invalid wife.   In 1892 the exterior facing Main Street was modified by the extension of the piazza at the south and the addition of a porte-cochere at the front door, giving the building a somewhat less severe appearance.

Extensive documentation for the E. B. Morgan house, which remained in the family until 1961,  is deposited in the Wells College archives. At one time the house was “French House,” a dorm for French majors.   In 1998 the E. B. Morgan house was designated a Village Landmark.