Tucked into the prairies of central Alberta, north of the town of Three Hills, Elnora is a small village covering approximately 1.5 square kilometres of land. The community has a history that stretches back to the early twentieth century, when it was first established as a village on January 2, 1908 under the name Stewartville. When a post office was set up the following year, a unique name was required, and the village was renamed Elnora – a combination honouring two women named Elinor and Nora, who were the wives of the postmasters at the time.
According to Statistics Canada’s 2021 Census of Population, Elnora was home to 288 residents living in 147 of its 156 total private dwellings, giving the village a population density of roughly 192 people per square kilometre. That figure represented a modest decline of 3.4% compared to the 2016 census count of 298 residents, which had itself dropped 4.8% from the 313 people recorded in the 2011 census. The gradual population decrease over successive census periods reflects a pattern common to many small rural communities across Alberta.