He brought in a real estate developer from Corpus Christi, to lay out a townsite near the oil field and along the Kansas City, Mexico and Orient Railway capable of housing 10,000 people.

The town was initially a jumble of tents and frame shacks; order came slowly, replacing the lawlessness of the early boomtown environment.

In 1927, the McCamey Independent School District was formed, and an enterprising newspaperman printed the first issue of the Tri-County Record, the first town newspaper.

A potable water supply was found in a geologic unit only 17 miles (27 km) distant, and pipes were built to transport it to town in 1929.

[6] McCamey was the location of a Humble Oil Company Refinery, one of the first built in West Texas.

[5] As of the 2020 United States census, there were 1,831 people, 693 households, and 425 families residing in the city.

[10] The town is approximately five miles (8 km) east of the Pecos River along U.S. Route 67.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 2.0 square miles (5.2 km2), all land.