The village was first mentioned in 855 (CL I, 23; RI I, 1277), than 1002 as Elisla, and means "forest with alder trees".

[4] Elsloo developed in the Early Middle Ages in the valley of the Maas.

The Maas flooded the village several times, and in 1459 the church was moved to higher grounds.

[6] Until 1982, when it was merged with Stein, Elsloo was a separate municipality, also incorporating the smaller villages of Meers and Catsop.

[7] The first artificially inseminated calf in the Netherlands was born on 5 December 1935 at the farm of Jan Werner in Elsloo.