Eldred first appeared on river plat books as "Farrow Town" in the 1830s, but was founded sometime before the admittance of Illinois as a state in 1818.

[4] Illinois Route 108 passes through the village, leading east 8 miles (13 km) to Carrollton, the Greene County seat, and west 3 miles (5 km) to the Illinois River and the Kampsville ferry.

According to the 2021 census gazetteer files, Eldred has a total area of 0.13 square miles (0.34 km2), all land.

The bottoms were systematically drained during the 1920s, which caused much contention among the villagers as to the merits of drainage.

Nevertheless, the drainage occurred and created a great expanse of farmland for the counties along the river.