It is located in La Matanza Partido and forms part of Greater Buenos Aires.

Chacra de Los Tapiales ("adobe wall ranch"), built by the Altolaguirre family in the early 19th century, gave the settlement its name and remains as a town landmark.

[1] La Franco Argentina, in turn, sold the land in lots to investors and prospective homeowners, and in 1908, the railway, in which La Franco Argentina owned a stake, inaugurated a station at the site, as well as a rail yard.

The town was divided geographically by the opening of the Riccheri Freeway in 1952, built to connect Buenos Aires to the recently inaugurated Ministro Pistarini International Airport 8 mi (13 km) to the southwest.

It was later chosen as the site for the Buenos Aires Central Market; the nation's largest wholesale market, it was inaugurated in Tapiales in 1984 to replace the Abasto de Buenos Aires and is the town's largest employer.