The establishment Fort Sturgis was based on the need for a railroad to transport the rich coal reserves of the area. Coal mining had already been going on in the Sturgis area before the town was formally established. Coal and the railroad are what built Sturgis.

The city is named after Miss Alida Livingston Sturgis who married Dr. P.G. Kelsey, a promoter of a railroad in the area.

The town was incorporated in 1890 and the first mayor was Wilson Lamb, who had moved his newspaper, The Enterprise, from Caseyville to Sturgis in 1886.