Falfurrias was founded as a cattle shipping point by Edward C. Lasater in 1904, and the town took its name from a village on land he had purchased in 1893. When the San Antonio & Aransas Pass Railroad extended its lines, Lasater, who lived from 1860 to 1930, platted the present townsite and built a hotel, general store, water and power plants, and a cotton gin. He opened the area to truck, citrus, and dairy farms, and he founded South Texas' first creamery, now widely recognized. A post office, newspaper, churches, and schools were opened, a citrus packing plant was built in 1914, and later the city became an oil and gas production center.