Four Thracian mounds and traces of two ancient cities - Greek Pistiros and an Roman town that lays on Trayan's Drum were discovered near the town. It has succeeded as an old Bulgarian settlement, which was destroyed in the late 14th century during the Ottoman onslaught. The town was rebuilt at the end of the 15th century under the Turkish name of Sara Khan bey, and carried this name until 1949.
Septemvri developed into a typical railway town following the construction of the Haskovo-Belovo railway line in 1873. The scenic Septemvri-Dobrinishte narrow gauge line to the Rhodopi mountain town of Dobrinishte over Bansko was constructed in 1945
