Sandyville was laid out and platted in 1815.[4] The community takes its name from nearby Sandy Creek.[5] A post office called Sandyville has been in operation since 1816.[6] The village was originally located a half-mile south next to Sandy Creek, but decided to move to its present site in the 1930s after the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District announced plans to build a series of dams in the region that would have put the town inside a flood plain. About 30 homes, the town hall, post office and several businesses were physically moved uphill to the new site between 1937 and 1938.[7]