Sardis City took its name from Sardis Baptist Church, founded in 1882 on another site with 20 charter members. The congregation first met in a brush arbor until a building was completed in 1887 at this site; it was a wooden box-frame church with a dirt floor and split-log benches. By 1888 the church had 74 members. A new church costing $800.00 was built in 1905, and it stood until 1945, when a new brick church was built. The sanctuary addition was completed in 1998 and the family life center in 2009. Sardis City was incorporated in 1963 with a population of 210 residences in order to establish a water board to provide water to the community. The town was incorporated on May 11, 1963, under the name Sardis City because another town in Alabama was already named Sardis, and the Water Board was incorporated on March 1, 1965. The community's first school, a one-room schoolhouse, was built in 1905, with a second room added in 1909. The first junior high school was built in 1925, the high school in 1933, and the first football team was organized in 1946, with players wearing plow shoes modified with wooden cleats. The first football field was built in 1955, the band was organized in 1959, and a brick school building was built in 1960 and used until the existing building was completed in 2006. Sardis Service Station, at the corner of Church and Sardis Drive, was opened by Ezra Johnson in 1930. He began the store with $11.25 worth of stock, sold groceries on credit, and allowed people until fall to pay their bills. Cotton was the main crop of the 30s. In 2001, the city purchased the store building and established a library and museum for the community.