Romans occupied the lower Rhineland and dislodged tribes that were not willing to cooperate until they finally withdrew in the second half of the 5th century.

Due to different claims to power and political tensions, Dülken was heavily fortified since 1400 with a city wall, watchtowers and ditches.

Having a long history in textiles and fabrics, Dülken's economy has shifted since the 1920s towards engineering and since the 1970s towards various branches situated in the business park and industrial area Mackenstein.

With the closure of some engineering companies, the former factories were transformed into a number of smaller workshops and plants, a lot specialized in metal machining.

Big employers or important companies are Otto Fuchs Metallwerke (brass and bronze products, automotive supply), KraussMaffei (tooling technology), Mars (sweets, chocolate bars), Schwarzkopf Henkel (cosmetics), Dietermann (metal casting), Weyermann (textiles), Maxicard (credit card manufacturing), Peri (construction), Hoeren (construction), Doka (construction systems), DHL (logistics), Sturm (logistics), Knauf AMF (ceiling, windows).

Several bus lines connect Dülken to Viersen, Mönchengladbach and Düsseldorf as well as the complete back country towards the Dutch border.

Carnival in February is celebrated with a big parade – one of the largest in the lower rhine area with about 80,000 to 100,000 visitors, depending on weather.

The Dülkener Schöppenmarkt, a type of flea/junk market, which takes place on the day after the last Carnival parade on Ash Wednesday, is one of Germany's biggest.

Here, local producers and traders offer various fruits and vegetables which are grown in the vicinity of the city – often very rare sorts of apples or pears.

The fool's academy provides diplomas as "doctor humoris causa", e.g. for Salvador Dalí, Neil Armstrong, Konrad Adenauer, current politicians or artists and local persons.

As a curiosity, the citizens donated a life-sized bronze statue in 1980, remembering a man emptying slurry pits in the outskirts before 1890 as "an early example of outstanding service orientation".