[1] It is situated along the Walnut River in the central part of Butler County and located in south-central Kansas.

[11] The original branch line connected Florence, Burns, De Graff, El Dorado, Augusta, Douglass, Rock, Akron, Winfield, and Arkansas City.

[12][13][14] In 1916, there was an anti-black race riot in El Dorado after an incident between a black shoe shiner and a white oil worker.

Large numbers of black families removed their household goods and moved out of El Dorado.

[15][16] In 1943, German and Italian prisoners of World War II were brought to Kansas and other Midwest states as a means of solving the labor shortage caused by American men serving in the war effort.

Fort Riley established 12 smaller branch camps, including El Dorado.

[citation needed] On June 10, 1958, a tornado hit El Dorado and killed 13 people.

[19] The climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and generally mild to cool winters.

The 2020 United States census counted 12,870 people, 5,136 households, and 3,096 families in El Dorado.

[33][34] Ancestry in El Dorado is 20.3% German, 11.6% Irish, 10.9% English, 2.5% French, 2.4% Scottish, 2.0% Italian, 0.4% Norwegian, 0.2% Polish, and 0.2% Sub Saharan African.

Butler competes in the NJCAA's Jayhawk Conference, and its teams have won numerous league and national accolades.

Notable former Grizzlies with NBA experience include Stephen Jackson, Tony Allen, and Kasib Powell.

Butler's men's and women's track and cross-country teams also have won numerous conference, regional, and national accolades.

[42] The El Dorado Broncos were a summer amateur baseball team composed primarily of college players.

The team competed within the Jayhawk League as part of the National Baseball Congress, or NBC.

[43] Several former Broncos players currently play in Major League Baseball, including Nate Robertson and Heath Bell .

[44] In April 2010, the Hot Rod Cafe (formerly the El Dorado theater on Main Street)[45] was filmed for the documentary reality television series American Pickers episode "Easy Riders", which aired July 26, 2010.

It featured Burt Lancaster, Deborah Kerr, Gene Hackman, William Windom and Bonnie Bedelia.

Country Music Artist Zach Bryan references the town on the song "El Dorado" from his self-titled 2023 album.

[47] The City of El Dorado maintains an extensive parks and recreation system, including: 12 neighborhood parks, 12 playgrounds, 5 soccer fields, 4 baseball fields, 4 softball fields, 2 spray parks, 2 pools, 2 tennis courts, 2 outdoor basketball courts, a baseball stadium, an 18-hole disc golf course, and a 6.3 mile bike path.

The venue was completed in 2012 by the Educational Facilities Authority of Butler County, which consists of representatives from the City of El Dorado, Butler Community College, and El Dorado USD 490 public school district.

El Dorado State Park is also located just beyond the city limits and provides many recreational activities, such as boating, fishing, hiking, swimming, horse trails and archery.