[5] According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 1.7 square miles (4.5 km2), all land.

[8] George Tyng, general manager of the property, built the headquarters for White Deer or Diamond F Ranch at the site in 1887.

Around the same time, the Purcell Company purchased land in the vicinity as a right-of-way for the Southern Kansas Railway of Texas.

[5] A year later, Henry Czerner and Ben Urbanczyk established a community of Polish farmers from Central Texas at the northeastern edge of town.

The discovery of oil and gas in Carson County in 1919 brought growth to White Deer and the surrounding area.

A disastrous fire in 1931, the negative economic impact of the Great Depression, and tornadoes in 1945 and 1951 were all contributing factors in White Deer's decline.

A statue of a white deer stands on a concrete pedestal in the middle of the town's main intersection.

On June 8, 1995, an F4 (maximum wind speeds 207–260 mph) tornado 11.7 miles away from the White Deer town center injured seven people and caused between $5,000,000 and $50,000,000 in damages.

[citation needed] On June 27, 1992, an F4 tornado 22.0 miles away from the town center injured seven people and caused between $5,000,000 and $50,000,000 in damages.