Tell City traces its 150+ year old roots to a meeting in Cincinnati, Ohio in November 1856.

The society's purpose was to obtain affordable homesteads for mechanics, shopkeepers, factory workers, and small farmers in a location where all could live in harmony.

The Society decided to purchase a tract of land three miles (5 km) square to be surveyed as a city plot.

The group was sent out to purchase the land and told to keep in mind they should find a healthful climate, fertile soil, good water, ample timber, as well as a location near a navigable river and a railroad, if possible.

Initially called Helvetia, it was soon renamed Tell City, a name easier to pronounce and remember for English-speaking people.

They are named for great persons of the military, arts, letters and science: DeKalb, Watt, Winkelried, Steuben, Payne, Herrman, Reubens, Lafayette, Schiller, Tell, Fulton, Jefferson, Mozart, Franklin, Humboldt, Pestalozzi, Washington, Blum and Gutenberg.

After the success of the Centennial, the Tell City Historical Society decided they would sponsor a festival in 1959 to determine if the community would support it as an annual event.

On March 17, 1960, Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 710, a Lockheed Electra turboprop airliner flying from Chicago to Miami lost a wing due to aerodynamic flutter and crashed in southern Indiana near Tell City.

A monument with the names of the victims and the date of the tragedy marks the grave.

Tell City became the county seat in 1994, when it was moved from nearby Cannelton.

34.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 16.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.

33.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 17.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.