[5] The community derives its name from the play Metamora; or, The Last of the Wampanoags by John Augustus Stone.

The canal was the center of industrial districts in Metamora and Brookville, 8 miles (13 km) to the east.

At one time there were water-powered mills for processing cotton, grinding flour and making paper.

Metamora is also home to the only existing wooden aqueduct in the United States (the Duck Creek Aqueduct),[7] with a historical review of the canal history which fueled the southeastern Indiana economy until its displacement by the railroad.

[9] According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 0.35 square miles (0.9 km2), all land.