Elora was founded in 1832 by Captain William Gilkison, a British officer recently returned from India. Originally called Irvine Settlement, the village was renamed Elora when the post office was established in 1839. Gilikson named the community after his brother's ship, which was itself inspired by the Ellora Caves near Aurangabad, Maharashtra, India.
Originally part of Nichol Township, Elora was incorporated as a village in 1858 and remained as such until it was amalgamated with Fergus and portions of Eramosa, Nichol, Pilkington and West Garafraxa Townships to form Centre Wellington in 1999. Elora had a population of 4,546 according to the 2001 Census, the last to record the village's population as a separate entity.
In 2000 a proposal was made to bring a racetrack with slot machines to Elora. The race track became the subject of much debate. The Centre Wellington Citizens Coalition was formed in opposition to the race track, primarily because of the inclusion of gambling facilities. A 4-3 decision to approve the opening was made by township council. It came down to a 3-3 decision and the mayor at the time George Pinkney, voted in favour of it. In 2002, the Grand River Raceway opened in Elora, with 200 slot machines.
In 2002 the Township of Centre Wellington announced that for safety reasons it would be necessary to demolish the historically important David Street Bridge. Concerned about the preservation of Elora's culturally significant architecture, artist Jim Reed and gallery owner David Neelin formed the group Elora Heritage. They received over 1,000 names on a petition and, assisted by long-time resident activist Don Harris, they met with representatives from town council as well as the provincial and federal governments. It became apparent that the bridge was beyond preservation; however council agreed to preserve the pier and build a replica bridge. The replica bridge presented numerous engineering challenges and its successful
