The town was first established as a uranium mining town in 1958. However, when the mine ran out in the 1980s, the town looked elsewhere for its survival. Now, tourism is a major business in Elliot Lake, and the town is actively seeking retirees to move there.
Since December 1990 the town has been home to the Elliot Lake Research Field Station, established by Laurentian University to investigate environmental radioactivity.
Until the 1870s an Ojibwa village existed near the present hospital site on the lake shore-line.