Eldora, IA

ELDORA is the county seat, situated on the Iowa River, on the stage route from Marshalltown to Iowa Falls. It contains two churches, Christian and Methodist; also Montague Lodge of Masons and a Lodge of I. O. O. F. There are three general stores, one drug store, one grocery, one hardware store, one saw-mill and one stone-ware pottery. The Hardin Sentinel is published weekly, by Marcus C. Woodruff. The Iowa River affords superior water power at this point. Population, 400.  (Hair's Iowa State Gazetteer..., 1865)