[4] The community is located in the irrigated valley of the Gila River in the midst of hilly and mountainous semi-arid terrain.

The townsite was sporadically populated by the Apache, Spanish and Mexican colonists, and American mountain men prior to the rise to prominence of the million-acre Lyons & Campbell Ranch.

In the 18th and 19th century, the Gila valley near the present day town was the homeland of the Bedonkohe band of the Chiricahua Apache.

[5][6] About 1829 American mountain men built a "frontier hacienda" at Gila for trade with the Apache and fur trapping.

In 1880, they sold their mining assets and bought the White House Ranch, 15 kilometres (9.3 miles) north of Gila.

The ranchlands reached from near Silver City on the east, westward to the Arizona border and southward from near Mule Creek, New Mexico along both sides of the Gila River to the northern part of the Animas Valley.

Attached to the living quarters or in separate buildings was a stable, barn, bunkhouse, store, post office, jail, foreman's house, and saloon.

Lyon's bedroom featured a trapdoor where he could hide if necessary from his numerous enemies who might attempt to kill or kidnap him.

Gila is a BSk (Semi-arid, cold steppe) climate under the Köppen Classification system.

The library circulates 6,699 items per year and serves a rural population of 807 persons living in or near Gila and Cliff.