Dell City

Dell City is a farming town at the intersection of Farm roads 1437 and 2249, fifty-three miles northeast of Sierra Blanca in northeastern Hudspeth County. The area had been primarily devoted to sheep and goat ranching until the discovery of large amounts of underground water. This discovery made possible the irrigation of some 40,000 acres and led to the founding of the town sometime before 1949, when a post office was established there with Dallas H. Thompson as postmaster. The estimated population of Dell City grew from 180 in the early 1950s to 360 in the mid-1950s. The number of residents had climbed to 950 by the early 1960s but dropped to 714 by the end of the decade. In the early 1970s the estimated population declined to 383 but rose by the late 1970s to 475. Dell City had four churches and a municipal airport during the mid-1980s. The community's estimated population was 569 in the early 1990s; at that time the town had around thirty businesses. In 2000 the population had dropped to 413 with thirty-two businesses. Among the crops raised in the area were long-staple cotton, onions, and tomatoes.