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History · Dell City

Dell City dates to 1948

Most of Dell City was built recently: 5% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1980. Below: maps from 1951 on and the census since 1970.

1948founded
0on the National Register
5%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Dell City began, and where its name came from

When was Dell City founded?

1948

Dell City dates its founding to 1948 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1970.

First census: 383 in 19702020 census: 24578 years

How did Dell City get its name?

Dell City’s name is a reference to the nursery rhyme "The Farmer in the Dell."

Founding year: Wikipedia. First post office: 1949. Name: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.The full story ↓

What stands out about Dell City’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Dell City are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 569 in 1990; 245 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Dell City’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Dell City’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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People over time

Dell City, census by census

0100200300400500600198020002020Peak: 569

Peaked at 569 in 1990; 245 people lived here in 2020.

6 censuses, 1970–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Dell City’s Wikipedia page.

The story

How Dell City came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Dell City.

Read it all →

Dell City was established in 1948, as an aquifer had been found in the area. Settlers came from other areas of Texas and New Mexico. It developed into being a farming town. The community had about 500 people in the 1950s.

In 2012, Jeanne Catsoulis of The New York Times described Dell City as "a borderline ghost town". In 2014, there were 336 people, according to the United States Census Bureau, with 50 being the average age. In 2016, Jessica Onsurez wrote that residents in the town, which had a decline in the number of businesses, are divided over whether the town is "dying", in her words, or whether it will rebound. Residents rejected proposals to establish a prison and a manufacturing plant.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Dell City, 1948 to 1990

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 20th century
  2. 1948
    FoundingDell City is established
  3. 1949Post officeThe Dell City post office opens
  4. 1951On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 1990CensusPopulation peaks at 569
By decade

Dell City, decade by decade

Today6 recent
Dell City Park2022Dell City ParkDell City Mercantile2022Dell City MercantileDell City Fire and EMS2022Dell City Fire and EMSDell City FFA sign2022Dell City FFA signCanutillo ISD bus in2022Canutillo ISD bus inDell City, TX 79837, USA2005Dell City, TX 79837, USA
On the map

Dell City on the map, 1951 to 1984

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Dell City. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Dell City on the 1951 USGS mapDell City on the 1984 USGS map1951Dell City sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Dell City.

Questions about Dell City’s history

What year was Dell City founded?

In 1948, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Dell City’s post office opened in 1949, and the census of 1970 counted 383 people here.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
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Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (6), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.