[5] It is near the former location of Paulville, a failed Ron Paul-inspired Libertarian cooperative and planned community.

The city was incorporated in 1948,[6] shortly after the discovery of an underground water supply by oil prospectors, which attracted farmers to the area.

[10] In 2012, Jeanne Catsoulis of The New York Times described Dell City as "a borderline ghost town".

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 1.7 square miles (4.3 km2), all land.

[4] It is approximately 90 miles (140 km) from El Paso, which is west of Dell City.

[10] By 1989, there was only one grocery and general store, Dell City Mercantile, which had burned down in a fire that year.

There were also three bars, two gas stations, two restaurants, a hardware store, and a video rental business.

[10] As of 1989[update], no barber shops were in Dell City, nor were there any in the rest of Hudspeth County.

[9] In 1989, there was one doctor who had office hours on Wednesdays in Dell City, but otherwise townfolk had to travel to El Paso to get medical appointments.

As it was established in the 20th century, it lacks prior architecture found in other small towns in Texas.

[9] The late Laura Lynch, a member of the original Dixie Chicks, tasked herself with Rehabilitating historical architecture.

[8] Hudspeth County is within the official service area of El Paso Community College.

[22] The filmmaker Josh Carter, beginning in 2002, assisted the creation of four films created by natives of Dell City, and he spliced them into a single work called Tales from Dell City, Texas, released in 2012.

Catsoulis wrote that the film "immortalizes a dusty slice of vanishing Americana, delivering a parched ode to hard work, endurance and desert dreams.