About Us:
Dilley is along the Missouri Pacific Railroad and IH35 approximately 16 miles southwest of Pearsall in the far southern Frio County. The community was originally called Darlington, after a landowner who settled in the mid 1860's. The name Dilley was derived shortly thereafter in honor of George M. Dilley, an official of the railroad. There is also evidence suggesting the name may have derived after an early settler named Dillahunty. In 1886 the community was officially called Dilley with an estimated population of fifty. In the early part of the 1900's the community supported two churches and a one teacher school with fifty-five students. In 1906 the school had eighty-seven students and two teachers. Dilley was incorporated in 1912.
Around the late 1940's the Dilley Independent School District was consolidated with the Millet School District of La Salle County. The Dilley State Bank and a non-profit organization made up of more than 100 residents, a new hospital was constructed in 1950. In 1965 Dilley had a peanut-drying plant, a clinic, rest home, and a large statue of a watermelon. The population was now 2,318 by 1967.
By 1987 Dilley had an estimated population of 2,773 and fifty-one business operations. In 1990 Dilley was chosen for a site to build a new 1,000-bed state prison.