Dell City, Texas

Dell City was established in 1948,[8] as an aquifer had been found in the area. Settlers came from other areas of Texas and New Mexico.[9] It developed into being a farming town. The community had about 500 people in the 1950s.[10]

In 2012, Jeanne Catsoulis of The New York Times described Dell City as "a borderline ghost town".[11] In 2014, there were 336 people, according to the United States Census Bureau, with 50 being the average age. In 2016, Jessica Onsurez wrote that residents in the town, which had a decline in the number of businesses, are divided over whether the town is "dying", in her words, or whether it will rebound. Residents rejected proposals to establish a prison and a manufacturing plant.[10]

Dell City is located in northeastern Hudspeth County at 31°56′7″N 105°12′1″W (31.935324, –105.200298),[12] in West Texas. It is 13 miles (21 km) north of U.S. Routes 62 and 180, and 4 miles (6 km) south of the New Mexico state line. The Guadalupe Mountains are visible to the east.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 1.7 square miles (4.3 km²), all land.[5]

It is approximately 90 miles (140 km) from El Paso, which is west of Dell City.[13] Carlsbad, New Mexico, to the northeast, is 90 miles (140 km) away.[14]

It is about 20 miles (32 km) west of the Guadalupe Mountains National Park. Texas Highways states that it is about 45 minutes' travel time away.[9]

As of 2019, the major sectors were farming and ranching.[13] There were multiple farms owned by families and two cotton gins that provided employment. By 2016, the number of farms had declined.[10] By 2019, several alfalfa growing operations were established and several persons from the Mesilla Valley and the area around Hatch, New Mexico began growing chile peppers on leased land around Dell City.[9]

In 1979, there were three grocery stores and four bars.[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.[14] In 2016, the city had one grocery store, Two T's Grocery, in a former bar. Additionally as of that year there was one restaurant, Spanish Angel Cafe.[10]

As of 1989, no barber shops were in Dell City, nor were there any in the rest of Hudspeth County.[14]

By 2019, a business owner began operating an Airbnb from several previously disused buildings.[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 of 1989, the closest hospital was in El Paso.[14]

There are no traffic lights in town. Several of the buildings are in an adobe style. As it was established in the 20th century, it lacks prior architecture found in other small towns in Texas.[9]

Dell City School

The area is served by the Dell City Independent School District.[15] The district has just one school, covering grades kindergarten through 12. In 1949, a teacher from Sierra Blanca Independent School District was sent to Dell City on request by Dell City residents, and another teacher, Grace Grebing, took over the role in 1950; she became the first superintendent of Dell City ISD.[8]

The district operates Grace Grebing Public Library, which also serves as a community library for Dell City.[16] It was named after a longtime teacher.[8]

Hudspeth County is within the official service area of El Paso Community College.[17]

The Dell Valley Review began publication in Dell City in 1956. It became known as the Hudspeth County Herald in 1964.[23] Its offices are now in Odessa. The publication maintains a mailing address PO Box in Fort Hancock.[24] The full name is Hudspeth County Herald and Dell Valley Review. In 2012 the newspaper had one employee, who served as the editor.[25]

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."[11]

• Laura Lynch, founder and member of the original Dixie Chicks

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  City hall
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  Post office
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  Sign for Dell City at Dell City Junction (south of Dell City, U.S. Highway 62 at FM 1437)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Dell City, Texas.

• Information about Dell City sponsored by the Dell City Chamber of Commerce.
• About Hudspeth County herald and Dell Valley review. [volume] (Dell city, Tex.) 1964-current - Library of Congress
• Hudspeth County Herald and Dell Valley Review (Dell City, Tex.), Vol. 9, No. 51, Ed. 1 Friday, August 13, 1965 - Digital Public Library of America
• "2020 CENSUS - CENSUS BLOCK MAP: Dell City city, TX" (PDF). U.S. Census Bureau. - The earliest census map posted online, from 1990: 1990 COUNTY BLOCK MAP (RECREATED): HUDSPETH County Page A - 2000 Map - 2010 Map