Originally known as "The Ridge," Oak Hill was settled about 1830 primarily by former South Carolinians. During the early 1800s, Ebenezer Methodist Campground was located here, and after a malaria outbreak in nearby Hamburg, settlers moved to Oak Hill in the 1840s. Bethel Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church was established in 1856, a Baptist church was erected in 1910 and disbanded about 1928, and one of the first African-American Lutheran congregations was established here. Oak Hill Academy, a boarding school for girls, operated here from 1849 to 1869, and in the 1870s a coeducational school was established that was eventually absorbed into the public school system before closing in the 1940s. A post office was established in 1894, and around 1900 Oak Hill had four general stores, a drug store, gin, blacksmith shop, and a Masonic hall. Oak Hill was incorporated as a town in 1940. Benjamin Meek Miller, Alabama governor from 1931 to 1935, was born here in 1864 and was known as the "sturdy oak of Wilcox." In 1998, Oak Hill was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.