Cypress’s first council election produced a result that needed something more than a recount of the headline totals. In the June 26, 1956 election, Jacob Van Leeuwen and Martin Olsthoorn each received 134 votes. Local historian Phil Brigandi records that the county supervisors brought the candidates in and settled the tie with a coin toss. Van Leeuwen won the seat.
The city was being incorporated as Dairy City, although voters already had other ideas about the name. A separate straw poll offered four choices: Dairy City, Los Coyotes, Lincoln City and Cypress. Cypress won comfortably, and the city officially renamed itself in 1957. The name predated the municipality. By 1896, a Cypress school district existed, with its original school near Ball Road and Moody Street. Brigandi notes that cypress trees were common ornamental plantings and windbreaks, but it's unclear who selected the school’s name. The Pacific Electric station adopted Cypress in 1905. One final wrinkle: the original Dairy City boundaries did not even include the old Cypress business district at Lincoln and Walker, which was annexed later.
