This town was named after Josiah Francis Earle, originally from England, who served in the Civil War as a Confederate army officer. After the war Earle settled near the present site of the town. In 1888 his widow built one room shack in order to get trains to make a stop. She named the train stop after her late husband, and a town eventually developed. After World War II a German prisoner-of-war camp was established in Earle. Earle was incorporated on February 20, 1905.
