Sidney was originally known as Jimmie's Creek, Canady or Round Mountain[2] before being named after a son of the community's first postmaster, John C. Stapp, in 1886.[3]
The area was settled some time before 1870 by William Yarbrough and J. A. Wright. The pioneers chose this location for the spring-fed stream that was nearby. Later this stream was named Jimmie's Creek for Captain James Cunningham. The first school, a one-room log cabin, was organized in the fall of 1877 with 28 students. By the end of the first school year, the students had increased to some 40 in number, and by 1880 there were 80 attending school for the short annual term.[4]
Tom Davis opened the first general store in 1883, and the first cotton gin was erected in 1895 by W. C. Jackson. When the community reached peak population in the late 1890s and 1900s, Sidney had a barber shop, two-story lodge building, drug stores, gins, and general mercantile stores that sold everything from groceries to buggies.[5]
In the 1940s, the community had two hundred people, a school, several churches and businesses.[6] The community's population was 148 in 2010.[7]
Although Sidney is unincorporated, it has a post office, with the ZIP Code 76474.[8]
The community's first school was founded in 1877. W.D. Cox was the teacher there. It continued to operate in 1940.[6] The Sidney Independent School District serves area students.
