Cypress was originally nicknamed “Waterville” due to the abundance of artesian wells in the area, but was incorporated as Dairy City in 1956 by local dairy farmers as a means of deterring developers and preserving their dairies, similar to the then-neighboring cities of Dairy Valley in Cerritos and Dairyland in La Palma.
However, after WWII, the land became too valuable for farming or ranching, and the dairies were sold out to house developers throughout the 1960s, until no dairies remained by the 1970s. Many of the dairymen relocated their businesses to Chino, where development is forcing them out once more.