Sharp developed as a farming and ranching community in the years immediately after the Civil War, when settlers drawn by the fertile black soil began arriving in the area. The first business, a store, opened in 1892, and it was soon joined by a blacksmith shop and the Davis General Store in 1896. Cotton was the principal crop, and a gin opened in 1896. When a post office was established in 1901, the community was named for Dr. William F. Sharp, a physician in Davilla 3.5 miles west. An annual reunion of Sharp residents began in 1978.